Clays and Climate – Clay Assemblages Formed under Extreme Humidity Conditions

Abstract

Generally when one considers alteration sequences one thinks of climates and conditions common to one’s environment; i.e. inhabited, agricultural areas. However some climatic conditions create special chemical systems where specific minerals form due to the climate, i.e. variations of total rainfall and rainfall distribution throughout a yearly cycle. Of course one can consider glacial conditions as a climate. But given that very little of the yearly interaction with rock and atmosphere occurs under conditions of liquid water/rock interaction, this climatic possibility is ignored here. Very cold, tundra, climates tend to be more assimilable to those of temperate climate systems but these systems operate only part of the year and biological activity is weak.