Identifying Detrital and Diagenetic Minerals in Paleosols of the Illinois Basin

Abstract

Phyllosilicates are hypothesized to be primarily of pedogenic origin in shallowly buried paleosols (≤3 km depth), regardless of the age of the paleosol. To test this hypothesis, this work evaluates the possible presence of detrital and diagenetic phyllosilicates in middle and upper Pennsylvanian paleosols, collected from three drill cores along a north–south transect in the Illinois Basin. The abundances of 2M1 muscovite, quartz, and K-feldspar are greater in a morphologically immature Protosol from the southernmost core; 1Md illite and interstratified illite-smectite with R1 and R0 stacking orders are more abundant in the more mature Vertisols of the central and northern cores. K-Ar age values of multiple clay-size fractions from each paleosol averaged ~260 Ma in the northern core, 270 Ma in the central core, and 295 Ma in the southern core. While considering the complex tectonic and thermal history of the Illinois Basin, detrital minerals are more abundant in immature paleosols that experienced relatively greater maximum burial depths and thus greater sediment supply whereas illitization in more mature paleosols was probably initiated primarily during protracted burial diagenesis. As the present study found evidence for diagenetic and detrital minerals in clay-size fractions of shallowly buried, deep-time paleosols, caution is advised when using paleosol minerals for ancient climate and environment reconstructions.