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Clay diagenesis in organic-rich cycles from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Yorshire (G.B.): implication for palaeoclimatic interpretations

  • The Organic Cyclicities of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Yorkshire, UK)
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Organic Matter Accumulation

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences ((LNEARTH,volume 57))

Abstract

Mineralogical and geochemical analyses have been performed on organic matter-rich mudstone sections from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation cored in the Cleveland basin (Marton and Ebberston boreholes) onshore Yorkshire. The formation shows a hierarchical cyclicity in organic matter distribution. Three short-term cycles (1 metre in thickness) having various organic carbon contents, have been studied with a high resolution sampling to estimate qualitatively and quantitatively the diagenetic transformations occurring in the clay fraction of sediments. Electron microscopy results and mass-balance calculations indicate a homogeneous degree of diagenetic reactions (kaolinitisation of micas, illitisation of smectite) never definitively oblitering the nature of primary flux of detrital clay minerals. Consequently, the distribution of clay mineral assemblages (as kaolinite versus mixed-layer illite-smectire or smectite) combined with correlative variations of major and trace element parameters (such as Th/K ratio) has been used throughout each sedimentary cycle as indicators of compositional changes of terrestrial inputs. Climatic oscillations from more aridic conditions to warmer and more humid ones appear to be related to the third-order cyclicity. A marked coincidence between the high accumulations of organic carbon, controlled by primary production, and the increase of land weathering which controls the nutriment fluxes, has also been emphasised.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. URA 723 du CNRS, Université Paris Sud, bâtiment 504, F-91405, Orsay cedex

    Alain Desprairies, Mostafa Bachaoui, Abdelkader Ramdani & Nicolas Tribovillard

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  1. Alain Desprairies
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  2. Mostafa Bachaoui
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  3. Abdelkader Ramdani
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  4. Nicolas Tribovillard
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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Desprairies, A., Bachaoui, M., Ramdani, A., Tribovillard, N. (1995). Clay diagenesis in organic-rich cycles from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Yorshire (G.B.): implication for palaeoclimatic interpretations. In: Organic Matter Accumulation. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 57. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0117668

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0117668

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-59170-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49216-0

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