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Clay mineral sources of the Grenada Basin, Southeastern Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

V. Gandais
V. Gandais*
Affiliation:
Institut F.A. Forel, 10 route de Suisse, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
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Abstract

This study of the Quaternary clay sedimentation in the Grenada Basin (Southeastern Caribbean) is based on six cores raised from depths of 1800 to 3000 m. Mineralogical analysis of <2 µm and <0·3 µm fractions revealed the presence of a four-component association — smectites, illite, kaolinite and chlorite — in which smectites were always dominant. These minerals were derived from two sources: the Lesser Antilles Arc, which contributed only smectites and kaolinite, and the South American continent, where smectites, kaolinite, chlorite and illite coexist. Geochemical data indicate that Ba and Cr are specific indicators of the South American minerals, whereas Cu characterizes the Antillean clays. The South American contribution, now prevailing, was less important during the Sangamon. The Antillean contribution was episodically predominant during the Wisconsin.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 1987 , pp. 395 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1987

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