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Glauconitic-rich strata from Oligo-Miocene shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits of the northern margin of Africa (Tunisia): geochemical approach for basin analysis

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Abstract

Glauconitic minerals have long been appreciated as a reliable tool for sequence stratigraphic interpretation. A degree of maturity and occurrence of glauconite are closely related within a system tract context and substrate paleoenvironmental conditions. Within Oligo-Miocene shallow marine deposits of northern Tunisian outcrops, the glauconite occurs as thin (few centimeters) to moderate thick (1 m) clay and fine grain size sandstone horizons which are superbly exposed at many localities. Sedimentological investigations data indicate that these glaucony-bearing strata are deposited under shallow water shelfal and lagoonal siliciclastic depositional systems. Geochemical analysis from nine glaucony samples shows that Oligocene glaucony is invariably more evolved (K2O = 6–8 %) than Miocene glaucony, which is typically slightly evolved (K2O = 4–6 %). Vertical changes in glaucony maturity are consistent with sequence-stratigraphic interpretation, showing in general an upward increase in the transgressive systems tract. Maximum glaucony concentration is recorded corresponding to the maximum flooding surface/condensed section. Comparison of glaucony characteristics across different depositional systems at the same stratigraphic level shows a slight decrease in maturity and abundance from distal to proximal locations. This lateral tendency reflects more suitable conditions for glauconitization in open-marine environments than in shallow waters.

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Acknowledgments

The first author is grateful to all the staff and personnel of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, University of Bologna for their kind support. We are grateful to the reviewers for their improvement suggestions and helpful discussion and comments on the early manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, 1062, Tunis, Tunisia

    Kamel Boukhalfa, Mohamed Soussi & Kmar Ben Ismail-Lattrâche

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40127, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandro Amorosi

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  1. Kamel Boukhalfa
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  2. Alessandro Amorosi
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Correspondence to Kamel Boukhalfa.

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Boukhalfa, K., Amorosi, A., Soussi, M. et al. Glauconitic-rich strata from Oligo-Miocene shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits of the northern margin of Africa (Tunisia): geochemical approach for basin analysis. Arab J Geosci 8, 1731–1742 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1288-z

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