The texture of an english fuller's earth

Abstract

It is generally agreed that the English mid-Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous fuller's earths were derived from volcanic ash. In the Lower Cretaceous fuller's earth of Woburn, Kerr (1932) recognized partially decomposed relics of shards in a matrix of montmorillonite, and Grim (1933, 1935) described montmorillonite pseudomorphs after glass fragments in the Bath fuller's earth of Bathonian age. Jeans et al. (1977) published twenty-two SEM pictures of pyroclasts, including sanidine, sphene, trachytic pumice, and a basaltic glass fragment. Photomicrographs of the Lower Cretaceous fuller's earth show shard relicts ranging in length from 0·8-1·26 mm (median ∼1·12 mm) and in thickness from 5-15µm (Jeans et al., 1977, fig. 14a). However, much remains obscure about the shape, size and mode of packing of the argillized vitric particles which make up the bulk of fuller's earths. This note describes the texture of an English fuller's earth which was freeze-fractured (Tessier, 1978), prior to examination with a scanning electron microscope.