Abstract
The results of the study of clay mineral alterations in Upper Pleistocene sediments of the southern trough in the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California) due to the influence of hydrothermal solutions and heat produced by sill intrusions are discussed. Core samples from DSDP Holes 477 and 477A were taken for the analysis of clay minerals. Application of the method of modeling X-ray diffraction patterns of oriented specimens of the finely dispersed particles made it possible to establish the phase composition of clay minerals, determine their structural parameters, and obtain reliable quantitative estimates of their contents in natural mixtures. The modeling data allowed us to characterize reliably the transformation of clay minerals in sediments of the hydrothermally active southern trough in the Guaymas Basin. In Upper Pleistocene sandy–clayey sediments of the southern trough, changes in the composition of clay minerals occurred under the influence of a long-living hydrothermal system. Its lower part (interval 170.0–257.5 m) with maximum temperatures (~300°C) was marked by the formation of chlorite. Terrigenous clay minerals are not preserved here. Saponite appears at a depth of 248 m in the chlorite formation zone. Higher in the sedimentary section, the interval 146–170 m is also barren of terrigenous clay minerals. Sediments of this interval yielded two newly formed clay minerals (chlorite and illite), which were formed at lower temperatures (above 180°C and below 300°C, approximately up to ~250°C), while the relatively low-temperature upper part (110–146 m) of the hydrothermal system (from ~140°C to ~180°C) includes the mixture of terrigenous and newly formed clay minerals. Terrigenous illite is preserved here. Illitization of the mixed-layer illite–smectite was subjected to illitization. The terrigenous montmorillonite disappeared, and chlorite–smectite with 5–10% of smectite layers were formed. In the upper interval (down to approximately 110 mbsf), the composition of terrigenous clay minerals remains unchanged. They are composed of the predominant mixed-layer illite–smectite and montmorillonite, the subordinate illite, mixed-layer chlorite–smectite with 5% of smectite layers, mixed-layer kaolinite–smectite with 30% of smectite layers, and kaolinite. This composition of clay minerals changed under the influence of sill intrusions into the sedimentary cover at 58–105 m in the section of Hole 477. The most significant changes are noted in the 8-m-thick member above the sill at 50–58 m. The upper part of this interval is barren of the terrigenous mixed-layer illite–smectite, which is replaced by the newly formed trioctahedral smectite (saponite). At the same time, the terrigenous dioctahedral smectite (montmorillonite) is preserved. The composition of terrigenous clay minerals remains unchanged at the top of the unit underlying the sill base.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bogdanov, Yu.A., Lisitsyn, A.P., Sagalevich, A.M., and Gurvich, E.G., Gidrotermal’nyi rudogenez okeanskogo dna (Hydrothermal Ore Genesis at the Ocean Floor), Moscow: Nauchn. Mir, 2006.
Curray, J.R., Moore, D.G., Aguayo, J.E., et al., Init. Repts. DSDP, 1982, vol. 64, part 1.
Drits, V.A. and Kossovskaya, A.G., Glinistye mineraly: smektity, smeshanosloinye obrazovaniya (Clay Minerals: Smectites and Mixed-Layers Minerals), Moscow: Nauka, 1990.
Drits, V.A. and Kossovskaya, A.G., Glinistye mineraly: slyudy, khlority (Clay Minerals: Micas and Chlorites), Moscow: Nauka, 1991.
Drits, V.A. and Sakharov, B.A., Rentgenostrukturnyi analiz smeshanosloinykh mineralov (The X-ray Structural Analysis of Mixed-Layer Minerals), Moscow: Nauka, 1976.
Drits, V.A. and Tchoubar, C., X-Ray Diffraction by Disordered Lamellar Structures, Heldenberg: Springer, 1990.
Einsele, G., Gieskes, J., Curray, J., et al., Intrusion of basaltic sills into highly porous sediments, and resulting hydrothermal activity, Nature, 1980, vol. 283, pp. 441–445.
Elders, W.A., Hoagland, J.R., McDowell, S.D., and Cobo, J.M., Hydrothermal mineral zones in the geothermal reservoir of Cerro Prieto, Geothermics, 1979, vol. 8, pp. 201–209.
Gieskes, J.V., Einsele, G., Kelts, K., and Niemitz, J., Hydrothermal activity in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, Init. Repts. DSDP, 1982, vol. 64, part 2, pp. 1159–1167.
Hoagland, J.R. and Elders, W.A. Hydrothermal mineralogy and isotopic geochemistry in the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, Mexico, I. Hydrothermal mineral zonation, Geotherm. Resourc. Counc. Trans., 1978, vol. 2, pp. 283–286.
Jennings, S. and Thompson, G.R., Diagenesis of PlioPleistocene of the Colorado River Delta, South California, J. Sediment. Petrol., 1986, vol. 56, pp. 89–98.
Kastner, M., Evidence for two distinct hydrothermal systems in the Guaymas Basin, Init. Repts. DSDP, 1982, vol. 64, part 2, pp. 1143–1158.
Kelts, K., Petrology of hydrothermally metamorphosed sediments at deep sea drilling site 477, southern Guaymas Basin rift, Gulf of California, Init. Repts. DSDP, 1982, vol. 64, part 2, pp. 1123–1136.
Kurnosov, V.B., Zolotarev, B.P., Artamonov, A.V., et al., Technical Note: Alteration effects in the upper oceanic crust–data and comments. Transact, vol. 581 (Booklet with CDROM), M.: GEOS, 2008.
Lonsdale, P., Bischoff, J.L., Burns, V.M., et al., A hightemperature hydrothermal deposit on the seabed at a Gulf of California spreading center, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 1980, vol. 49, pp. 8–20.
Moore, D.G., Plate-edge deformation and crustal growth, Gulf of California structural province, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 1973, vol. 84, pp. 1884–1906.
Olson, E.R. and Elders W.A., Hydrothermal mineralogy and isotopic geochemistry in the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, Mexico, II. Isotopic geochemistry, Geotherm. Resourc. Counc. Trans., 1978, vol. 2, pp. 513–516.
Peter, J.M. and Scott, S.D., Mineralogy, composition, and fluid-inclusion microthermometry of seafloor hydrothermal deposits in the southern trough of Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, Canad. Miner., 1988, vol. 26, pp. 567–587.
Sakharov, B.A., Lindgreen, H., Salyn, A.L., and Drits, V.A., Determination of illite-smectite structures using multispecimen X-ray diffraction profile filling, Clays Clay Miner., 1999, vol. 47, pp. 555–566.
Sakharov, B.A. and Lanson, B., X-ray identification of mixed-layer structures, in Modeling of Diffraction Effects, Chapter 2.3: Handbook of Clay Science, part B: Techniques and Applications, Bergaya, F. and Lagaly, G., Eds., Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2013, pp. 51–135.
Velde, B., Suzuki, T., and Nicot, E., Pressure-temperaturecomposition of illite-smectite minerals: Niger delta mudstones and other examples, J. Sediment. Petr., 1986, vol. 34, pp. 435–441.
Von Damm, K.L., Edmond, J.M., Measures, C.J., and Grant, B., Chemistry of submarine hydrothermal solutions at Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1985, vol. 49, no. 11, pp. 2221–2237.
Williams, D.L., Becker, K., Lawver, L.A., and Von Herzen, R.P., Heat flow at the spreading centers of the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, J. Geophys. Res., 1979, no. 84, pp. 6757–6796.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © V.B. Kurnosov, B.A. Sakharov, E.V. Blinova, 2016, published in Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, 2016, No. 4, pp. 287–306.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kurnosov, V.B., Sakharov, B.A. & Blinova, E.V. Clay minerals in sediments of the hydrothermally active southern trough in the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California). Lithol Miner Resour 51, 243–261 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490216040040
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490216040040