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The Mineral Composition of the Modern Fenland Silt, with special reference to Carbonate Minerals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

F. Hardy
F. Hardy
Affiliation:
(School of Agriculture, Cambridge)
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Summary

1. A sample of modern Fenland silt containing 8·98 per cent of carbonate was found on minaralogical examination to include dolomite as well as aragonite in its mineral assemblage.

2. The dolomite is present in fresh angular crystal grains which suggest a secondary and recent origin of the mineral. It has possibly been deposited from sea-water which periodically covers the foreshore of the Fenland border of the Wash.

3. The general mineral composition of the silt resembles closely that of certain geologically recent deposits of Cambridgeshire, and points to the boulder-clay left by the North Sea glacier as the chief source of the material of which the silt is composed. The silt has mainly been deposited by sea-currents which carry southwards the eroded glacial deposits of the South Yorkshire and North Licoln-shire coasts.

4. An attempt is made to interpret the results of a chemical analysis of the silt in the light of its mineralogical composition, chiefly with regard to carbonate, potash, and phosphate. Muscovite, is found to be the main source of potash, and apatite of phosphate in the silt.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 57 , Issue 12 , December 1920 , pp. 543 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1920

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References

page 544 note 1 Amos, A., Journ. Agric. Sci., vol. i, 1905, p. 322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 544 note 2 Hardy, F., “A Preliminary Investigation into the Occurrence of different kinds of Carbonates in Soils,” to be published in Journ. Agric. Sci., vol. xi, part i, 1920.Google Scholar

page 544 note 3 Skertchley, S. B. J., “The Geology of the Fenland” (Mem. Geol Surv.), 1877.Google Scholar

page 547 note 1 Rastall, R. H., “Mineral Composition of Lower Greensand Strata of East England”: Geol. Mag., Vol. LVI, 1919, p. 269.Google Scholar

page 548 note 1 Rastall, R. H., “The Mineral Composition of some Cambridgeshire Sands and Gravels”: Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., vol. xvii, 1912, p. 136, etc.Google Scholar

page 549 note 1 Clarke, , “Data of Geochemistry”: Bulletin 616, U.S. Geol. Surv., 1916, p. 516.Google Scholar