Practical Application of the Mineralogical Mapping Method for Stratigraphy of the Cretaceous Deposits of Southern Primorye (Russian Far East)

Anatoly V Mozherovsky

doi:10.3390/min11080840

Abstract

Highly ordered mixed-layer formations of chlorite–smectite (corrensite) and mica–smectite (rectorite) were found in the volcanogenic–sedimentary rocks of Southern Primorye. They have shown a rather narrow “living” time interval (Cretaceous–Paleogene). The associations of corrensite and rectorite with chlorite, mica, kaolinite, and laumontite have great value in labeling. Their study would determine the time and thickness parameters of sedimentation conditions, the nature of the transformation stages, the physicochemical and climatic parameters of the accumulation of the depositional material, and the geological history and stratigraphic construction of Mesozoic–Cenozoic volcanogenic–sedimentary rocks of the Primorye Region.

Highlights

Authigenic minerals are accurate indicators of the paleogeographical conditions of sedimentation and the nature of transformations that take place during epigenetic processes
The minerals that formed in the accumulated deposits were transformed via epigenesis in the following ways: smectite–rectorite–mica and smectite (palygorskite, sepiolite (?))– corrensite–chlorite
In the sedimentary basins that we studied, three mineralogical phases were distinguished: chlorite–mica (Cretaceous and later); transitional—corrensite (mixed layers of chlorite–smectite and corrensite-like minerals (CLM)) and rectorite (mixed layers of mica–smectite and rectorite-like minerals (RLM)) (Early Cretaceous and Paleocene– Eocene), and smectite

Summary

Introduction

Authigenic minerals are accurate indicators of the paleogeographical conditions of sedimentation and the nature of transformations that take place during epigenetic processes. Previous studies [1,2,3,4,5,6] have shown that the formations of the Lower Cretaceous and Paleogene sedimentary rocks in the transition zone between the Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean have similar features. This process probably began in the shallow sea basin on the continental margin (riftogenic stage), often close to evaporites, with frequent changes in the facies condition from the shallow-water to the deep-water depositional regime, episodic supplies of volcanogenic material, and the gradual deepening of sedimentary basins. In the sedimentary basins that we studied, three mineralogical phases were distinguished: chlorite–mica (Cretaceous and later); transitional—corrensite (mixed layers of chlorite–smectite and corrensite-like minerals (CLM)) and rectorite (mixed layers of mica–smectite and rectorite-like minerals (RLM)) (Early Cretaceous and Paleocene– Eocene), and smectite (from the Oligocene to the present)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion