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Geological factors controlling clay mineral patterns across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Mediterranean and Atlantic sections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

M. Ortega ,
I. Palomo ,
F. Martinez  and
I. Gonzalez
M. Ortega
Affiliation:
Dpto. Mineralogía y Petrología. Fae. Ciencias. Univ. Granada. Avda. Fuentenueva, s/n. 18002 Granada
I. Palomo
Affiliation:
Dpto. Mineralogía y Petrología. Fae. Ciencias. Univ. Granada. Avda. Fuentenueva, s/n. 18002 Granada
F. Martinez
Affiliation:
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra. Fac. Ciencias. Univ. Granada. Avda. Fuentenueva, s/n. 18002 Granada
I. Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Dpto. Cristalografía y Mineralogía. Fac. Químiea. Prof: García González, s/n. 41071 Sevilla, Spain
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Abstract

The clay mineral associations in the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary (KTB) and in the Danian and Maastrichtian levels of sections from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Domains have been studied. The Mediterranean sections have a single mineral association consisting of smectiteiltite and kaolinite, whereas the Atlantic sections have several associations: illite-chlorite, illite-R1 I-S-kaolinite and illite-R 1 I-S-chlorite. Data are presented relating to the influence of K-feldspars and Fe oxide sphemles on the clay mineral associations. Study of rare-earth elements shows that regional geological factors affect the clay mineralogy of the KTB, examples showing significant anthigenesis in the Mediterranean sections, and important detrital supply in all the Atlantic sections. We propose that the KTB studied in these marine sections is equivalent to the uppermost layer of the two-layered clay unit originating in a cloud of a vapourized bolide. Regional tectonic conditions have been responsible for differences in clay sedimentation in these geological domains and among the stratigraphic sections of the Atlantic Domain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 483 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

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