Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A deep-water glauconitization process on the Ivory Coast—Ghana Marginal Ridge (ODP Site 959): Determination of Fe3+-rich montmorillonite in green grains

  • Published:
Clays and Clay Minerals

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 April 2002

Abstract

The mineral and chemical composition of green glauconitic grains from ODP Site 959 (2100 m water depth) located on the northern flank of the Ivory Coast—Ghana Marginal Ridge was studied. Recurrent winnowing of a 20 m thick Pleistocene succession resulted in a low accumulation rate and stratigraphic hiatuses. The green clay material typically occurs as fillings in the chambers of pelagic foraminifers. The amount of green clay present in sediments older than 1 Ma is small, and greater in younger material. Mud composed of smectite, kaolinite, traces of mica, calcite and quartz was the precursor material that filled the chambers of the foraminifers. Processes at the water-sediment interface slowly modified this composition. Kaolinite was dissolved; smectite lost Al but gained Fe, K and layer charge. In that matrix, the nanocrystals of neoformed smectite are observed. The infrared (IR) spectra showed OH-stretching and bending vibrations due to groups incorporating Fe3+. The spectra are in agreement with the crystallochemical formulae of Fe3+-rich montmorillonite as determined by point-by-point analyses on the neoformed crystallites and on the surrounding matrix. The layer charge in this Fe3+-rich montmorillonite is almost wholly octahedral as shown in crystallochemical formulae and documented independently by a new IR method. The tetrahedral charge appeared when the Fe content increased by > 1.2 Fe per formula unit. With the maturation process, the increased role of the closed layers is observed, with the color of grains becoming greener. We have documented for the first time glauconitization proceeding at a depth of 2100 m at a temperature near 3°C. The most important factors of the process are: accumulation of terrigenous clayey material in the foraminiferal chambers, Fe supply from a nearby continent, and a lengthy residence at the water-sediment interface in the zone of the winnowing and low sediment accumulation rate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amouric, M. (1990) La transformation gel-smectite-glauconite. Pp. 450–461 in: Matèriaux Argileux; Structure, Propriétés et Applications (A. Decarreau, editor). Société Française de Minèralogie et de Cristallographie, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amouric, M. and Parron, C. (1992) About the glauconitization process. An HRTEM and microchemical study. Proceedings Mediterranean Clay Meeting, Lipari, pp. 11–12.

  • Biscaye, P.E. (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clays in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas and oceans. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 76, 803–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonifay, D. and Giresse, P. (1992) Middle to late Quaternary sediment flux and post depositional processes between the continental slope off Gabon and the Mid-Guinean Ridge. Marine Geology, 106, 107–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, F.A. (1975) Paleoclimatic significance of quartz/illite variations in cores from the Eastern Equatorial North-Atlantic. Quaternary Research 5, 225–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drits, V.A. and Kossovskaya, A.G. (1980) Geocrystallochemistry of the rock-forming dioctahedral smectites (in Russian). Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, 1, 84–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drits, V.A., Dainyak, L.G., Muller, F., Besson, G. and Manceau, A. (1997) Isomorphous cation distribution in celadonites, glauconites and Fe-illites determined by infrared, Mössbauer and EXAFS spectroscopies. Clay Minerals, 32, 153–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, V.C. (1974) Layer silicates. Pp. 331–363 in: Infrared Spectra of Minerals (V.C. Farmer, editor). Monograph 4. Mineralogical Society, London.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Giresse, P. (1985) Le fer et les glaucomes au large du fleuve Congo. Sciences Géologiques, Bulletin, Strasbourg, 38, 293–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giresse, P. and Wiewióra, A. (1999) Origin and diagenesis of blue-green clays and volcanic glass in the Pleistocene of the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Marginal Ridge (ODP Leg 159, Site 959). Sedimentary Geology, 127, 247–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giresse, P., Wiewióra, A. and Lacka, B. (1988) Mineral phases and processes within green peloids from two recent deposits near the Congo River mouth. Clay Minerals, 23, 447–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giresse, P., Gadel, F., Serve, L. and Barusseau, J.P. (1998) Indicators of climate and sediment-source variations at site 959: implications for the reconstructions of paleoenvironments in the Gulf of Guinea through Pleistocene times. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 159, 585–603.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, B.A., Russell, J.D., Fraser, A.D. and Woodhams, F.W.D. (1976) A Mössbauer and IR spectroscopic study of the structure of nontronite. Clays and Clay Minerals, 24, 53–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, J.J., Windom, H. and Goldberg, E.D. (1968) The distribution of clay minerals in the World Ocean. Deep-Sea Research, Part A, 15, 433–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, S. (1995) Erosion, sedimentation and sedimentary origin of clays. Pp. 162–219 in: Origin and Mineralogy of Clays, Clays and the Environment (B. Velde, editor). Springer, Berlin.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann, U. and Kiemen, E. (1950) Loss of exchangeability of lithium ions in bentonite on heating. Zeitschift für Anorganische und Allgemeire Chemie, 262, 95–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J.C. and Webb, J.A. (1999) The genesis of glaucony in the Oligo-Miocene Torquay Group, southeastern Australia: petrographic and geochemical evidence. Sedimentary Geology, 125, 99–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, D.W. (1964) Perigenic, a new term. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 34, 875.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madejová, J., Komadel, P. and Čičel, B. (1994) Infrared study of octahedral site populations in smectites. Clay Minerals, 29, 319–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madejová, J., Bujdak, J., Petit, S. and Komadel, P. (2000) Effect of chemical composition and temperature of heating on the infrared spectra of Li-saturated dioctahedral smectites. (I): Mid-infrared region. Clay Minerals, 35, 739–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, D.M. and Reynolds Jr., R.C. (1989) X-Ray Diffraction and Analysis of Clay Minerals. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 332 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odin, G.S. and Fullagar, P.D. (1988) Geological significance of the glaucony facies. Pp. 295–332 in: Green Marine Clays (G.S. Odin, editor). Developments in Sedimentology, 45. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odin, G.S. and Matter, A. (1981) De glauconarium origine. Sedimentology, 28, 611–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odin, G.S. and Stephan, J.F. (1981) The occurrence of deep water glaucony from the eastern Pacific: the result of in situ genesis or subsidence? Initial Report Deep Sea Drilling Program (J.S. Watkins, J.C. Moore et al., editors), 66, 419–428. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petit, S., Righi, D., Madejová, J. and Decarreau, A. (1998) Layer charge estimation of smectites using infrared spectroscopy. Clay Minerals, 33, 579–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porrenga, D.H. (1967) Clay mineralogy and geochemistry of Recent marine sediments in tropical area. Ph.D. thesis, University of Amsterdam, Stolk-Dordt, 145 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suits, N.S. and Arthur, M.A. (2000) Sulfur diagenesis and partitioning in Holocene Peru shelf and upper slope sediments. Chemical Geology, 163 (1–4), 219–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stubican, V. and Roy, R. (1961) A new approach to assignment of infra-red absorption bands in layer-structure silicates. Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie, Bd., 115, 200–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velde, B. (1985) Clay minerals. A Physicochemical Explanation of their Occurrence. Developments in Sedimentology, 40. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 427 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, T. (1998) Pliocene-Pleistocene deposition of carbonate and organic carbon at Site 959: paleoenvironmental implications for the eastern equatorial Atlantic off the Ivory Coast-Ghana. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 159, 557–574.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiewióra, A., Lacka, B. and Szczyrba, J. (1979) Celadonite, glauconite and skolite: nomenclature and identification problems. 8th Conference on Clay Mineralogy and Petrology, Teplice, Geologica, Karlova University, 47–58.

  • Wiewióra, A., Lacka, B. and Giresse, P. (1996) Characterization and origin of 1:1 phyllosilicates within peloids of the Recent, Holocene, and Miocene deposits of the Congo Basin. Clays and Clay Minerals, 44, 597–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiewióra, A., Giresse, P., Jaunet, A.M., Wilamowski, A. and Elsass, F. (1999) Crystal chemistry of layer silicates of the Miocene green grain (Congo Basin) from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Analytical Electron Microscopy (AEM) observations. Clays and Clay Minerals, 47, 582–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818, Warszawa, Poland

    A. Wiewióra & A. Wilamowski

  2. Laboratoire de Sédimentologie Marine, Université de Perpignan, Avenue de Villeneuve, 66860, Perpignan Cedex, France

    P. Giresse

  3. UMR 6532 CNRS HydrASA, Université de Poitiers, 40, Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022, Poitiers Cedex, France

    S. Petit

Authors
  1. A. Wiewióra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. Giresse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. Petit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Wilamowski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Wiewióra.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wiewióra, A., Giresse, P., Petit, S. et al. A deep-water glauconitization process on the Ivory Coast—Ghana Marginal Ridge (ODP Site 959): Determination of Fe3+-rich montmorillonite in green grains. Clays Clay Miner. 49, 540–558 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1346/CCMN.2001.0490606

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1346/CCMN.2001.0490606

Key Words

Search

Navigation