Abstract

Abstract Different methods of clay mineral correlation within sedimentary sequences provide varying degrees of stratigraphical resolution. These range from: (1) precise time correlation by the recognition of clay-forming events; (2) levels of general stratigraphical significance based upon changes in clay mineral assemblages reflecting widespread climatic, topographic or sea-level changes; (3) correlations of no stratigraphical significance where the distribution of clay minerals reflect patterns of detrital dispersal, pore-fluid flow in buried sediments, or metamorphism. The main use of clay mineral stratigraphy is to provide an alternative means of correlating effectively unfossiliferous sediments by tying them into biostratigraphically dated standard sequences in which the clay mineral variations are well established. Since 1980 it has been used in offshore UK to help correlation in the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian-Lower Carboniferous) of the North Sea and west of Shetland, and the New Red Sandstone (late Carboniferous-Triassic) of the Southwest Approaches, southern North Sea Basin and the central North Sea. Results of these studies are described and critically assessed.

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