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Sedimentation, petrogenesis and radioisotopic age of the Cretaceous fuller's earth of Southern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

I. A. Cowperthwaite
Affiliation:
The Steetley Co. Ltd., Berk Minerals Division, Worksop, Nottinghamshire
F. J. Fitch
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London
J. A. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Geodesy and Geophysics, University of Cambridge
J. G. Mitchell
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
R. H. S. Robertson
Affiliation:
Dunmore, Pitlochry, Scotland

Abstract

The Cretaceous fuller's earth of Southern England has been studied using sedimentological, petrographical and X-ray diffraction techniques, and by 40Ar-39Ar radiometric dating. The results indicate that the ultimate sources of the fuller's earth were basic to intermediate, alkaline pyroclastic materials, perhaps stemming from volcanicity associated with the Mesozoic rifting of the North Atlantic. The Wolf Rock phonolite is considered as a potential pyroclastic source. Deposition occurred under normal sedimentary processes, with partial re-working of land-fall ash, and incorporation of orthoclastic debris.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1972

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