Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ALONSO-AZCÁRATE, J. Articles by MAS, J. R. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Clay minerals as provenance indicators in continental lacustrine sequences: the Leza Formation, early Cretaceous, Cameros Basin, northern Spain

¹ Facultad de Ciencias del Medio Ambiente, Fábrica de Armas, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, ² Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, and ³ Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Departamento de Estratigrafía, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Instituto de Geología Económica, C.S.I.C., 28040 Madrid, Spain

^* E-mail: jacinto.alonso{at}uclm.es

(Received 3 May 2004; revised 19 July 2004)

Variations in clay mineral assemblages, changes in Kübler index (KI), and the chemical composition of chlorites are used to identify source areas in the lacustrine materials in the Lower Cretaceous Leza Limestone Formation of the Cameros Basin, northern Spain. This formation has fairly homogeneous lithological characteristics and facies associations which do not allow for identification and characterization of local source areas. The Arnedillo lithosome of the Leza Limestone Formation contains a clay mineral association (Mg-chlorite, illite and smectite) indicative of its provenance. Chlorite composition and illite KI values indicate that these minerals were formed at temperatures higher than those reached by the Leza Formation which indicates its detrital origin. The similarity in the Mg-chlorite composition between the Arnedillo lithosome and the Keuper sediments of the area indicates that these materials acted as a local source area. This implies that Triassic sediments were exposed, at least locally, at the time of deposition of the Leza Formation. The presence of smectite in the Leza Formation is related to a retrograde diagenesis event that altered the Mg-chlorites in some samples.

KEYWORDS: provenance, lacustrine deposits, inherited Mg-chlorite, retrograde diagenesis

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. I. Benito, K. C. Lohmann, and R. Mas Micro-Sized Dolomite Inclusions in Ferroan Calcite Cements Developed During Burial Diagenesis of Kimmeridgian Reefs, Northern Iberian Basin, Spain Journal of Sedimentary Research, March 1, 2006; 76(3): 472 - 482. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]