Conditions for Formation of Iron Minerals During Sedimentation and Diagenesis

Abstract

In the preceding chapter we examined the problem of constructing diagrams of minerals when the initial material consists of ferric hydroxide. We also analyzed some particular questions of mineral paragenesis. These data have made it possible to gain some understanding of the fact that the formation of any particular mineral is more complex, perhaps taking place in many different ways, than previously thought. It is necessary to find some agreement among these data and to draw a complete picture of the formation and successive changes in authigenic minerals during sedimentation and diagenesis. The material in the third chapter cannot alone furnish all we need. To create the full picture of the formation of authigenic minerals and their alterations during diagenesis, we must turn to the geologic facts and, on the basis of these, use the constructions we derived in Chap. 3.