Glauconitic peloids and chamositic ooids - favorable factors,constraints, and problems

Glauconitic minerals constitute a family ranging from green smectite to a 10Ådioctahedral mica (glauconite). Chamositic minerals include a 7Åtrioctahedral serpentine (berthierine) and a 14Åtrioctahedral chlorite (chamosite). These green iron-rich, neoformed or transformed clay minerals are most commonly concentrated in sand-size granules.Recent berthierine and Recent and ancient glauconitic minerals occur mainly in structureless peloids, most of which are believed to have been fecal pellets. In contrast, most of the ancient chamositic minerals are in multi-coated ooids generally assumed to have been made by gentle rolling on the sea floor.Glauconitic and chamositic granules accumulated most commonly in marine shelf environments during episodes of reduced influx of sediment. In modern deposits chamositic peloids predominate on the inner shelf, whereas glauconitic peloids are most abundant on the middle and outer shelf. In general, ancient glauconitic and chamositic deposits had a rather similar environmental distribution; in detail, however, they reflect more varied and overlapping marine habitats.Glauconitic greensands and chamositic ironstones commonly occur above a coarsening- or shoaling-upward facies sequence. Many of them are cross-bedded and burrowed, and some are interbedded with a ferruginized or phosphatized hardground. Although differing in detail, their temporal distributions throughout Phanerozoic time were rather similar. Both attained a maximum when cratonic blocks were widely dispersed and sea level was high in Early Paleozoic and Late Mesozoic time. In addition, recurring development of chamositic ooids commonly coincided with repeated regional transgressions.This review of current information and differing interpretations leads to significant questions that are essential subjects for future research. Moreover, some of these relate to unsolved problems of phosphorite genesis.     

Palaeoenvironmental implications of ferruginous deposits related to a Middle–Upper Jurassic discontinuity (Prebetic Zone,Betic Cordillera,Southern Spain)

The Middle–Upper Jurassic boundary in the westernmost Tethyan basins is marked by a discontinuity. A thin iron crust with ferruginous ooids and pisoids and an overlying ferruginous oolitic limestone lithofacies occur in a genetic relationship to this discontinuity with a reduced thickness (< 50 cm) and very local distribution in the Prebetic Zone (Betic Cordillera).The ferruginous coated grains are subdivided into two types. Type A ooids are characterised by thin, regular lamination in concentric layers enclosing a nucleus; they are dominant in the top of the iron crust (100% of the ferruginous ooids) and in the ferruginous oolitic limestone (82%). Type B ooids typically have thick, irregular lamination in a few discontinuous concentric layers enclosing a variable nucleus including bioclasts and foraminifera; they are exclusive to the ferruginous oolitic limestone (18% of the ferruginous ooids). The bulk chemical composition varies between 80% Fe₂O₃ by weight in the iron crust and 67% by weight in the coated grains. In the ferruginous ooids, the contents in SiO₂ (5.4%), Al₂O₃ (6.5%), P₂O₅ (3.6%), and CaO (4.7%) are higher than in the crust. Trace elements (V, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Y, Mo, and Pb) in both the crust and ooids show enriched values compared with the bulk composition of the upper continental crust. The mineral composition of the iron crust and ooids is primarily goethite, with small amounts of Al-hydroxide (bohemite) and apatite, whereas hematite is identified only in the iron crust.The Type A ooids are interpreted as having an origin related to the iron crust. Since there is no evidence to support a marine genesis for the iron crust, the possibility of a subaerial origin is presented here. The crust has characteristics (chemical and mineralogical composition) similar to those of ferruginous pisolitic plinthite (highly weathered redoximorphic soil), and goethite shows an Al-substitution range (5–10 mol%) that indicates pedogenic conditions. Soil processes under periodic hydrous conditions are suggested; groundwater soils with hydrous conditions are congruent with the formation of the Type A ferruginous ooids and pisoids. In this situation, a coastal plain with periodically flooded soils would be the likeliest scenario. Callovian shallow carbonate shelf was possibly emerged and weathered, followed by marine sedimentation during the Middle Oxfordian, associated with major flooding of the Prebetic shelf and the erosion of ferruginous pisolitic plinthite. The first marine deposit was ferruginous oolitic limestones. Fragments of iron crust and Type A ferruginous ooids were reworked and incorporated into the marine sediments. A second phase of ferruginous ooids (Type B) with clear marine features developed, benefiting from iron-rich microenvironments due to the redistribution from iron crust fragments and Type A ferruginous ooids.     

Petrographic-microchemical studies and origin of the Agbaja Phanerozoic Ironstone Formation, Nupe Basin, Nigeria: a product of a ferruginized ooidal kaolin precursor not identical to the Minette-type

The Campanian-Maastrichtian Agbaja Ironstone Formation of the Nupe basin, Nigeria, forms a major part of the about 2 billion tons of iron ore reserves of the Middle Niger Embayment. The ironstone deposits were previously reported to be similar to the Minette-type ironstones because of their depositional patterns, composition and inferred origin. Four rock-types are recognized within the Agbaja Ironstone Formation: ooidal pack-ironstone, pisoidal pack-ironstone, mud-ironstone and bog iron ore. In the ironstones, kaolinite of both the groundmass and the ooids/pisoids is of lateritic origin, whereas the associated quartz, mica and heavy minerals are of detrital origin. Ooids and pisoids were formed by mechanical accretion of platy kaolinite crystals by rolling on the sea floor in a near-shore environment, and were subsequently transported and deposited together with a fine-grained kaolinitic groundmass. Pyrite (mainly framboidal) and siderite (both exclusively occurring as pseudomorphs of goethite and/or hematite) are diagenetic whereas goethite is post-diagenetic in origin, resulting from the ferruginization of the kaolinitic precursor. Crandallite-gorxeicite-goyazite, bolivarite and boehmite are also post-diagenetic in origin. Hematite was formed from the dehydration of goethite, whereas gibbsite (restricted to the upper part of the deposit) is of recent and in situ lateritic origin. The presence of newly formed authigenic pyrite and siderite (now replaced by hematite and goethite) are indicators of a reducing environment during diagenesis. The absence of diagenetic chamositic clay minerals, evidently caused by a low Mg concentration, suggests that fully marine conditions were not established during sedimentation. This is supported by the lack of fossils, brecciated shell materials and bioturbation features in the deposit. Reworking and redeposition of the primary constituents are inferred from broken pisoids, nuclei of pisoidal/ooidal fragments in pisoids and high iron concentrations present in the pisoids and ooids compared to that of the groundmass. These observations indicate that the Agbaja ironstone deposits of the Lokoja study area exhibit some environmental and mineralogical characteristics that are markedly different from other known deposits of Minette-type, where primary chamositic clay minerals generally form the protore for the ironstones. The recognition of kaolinite as the precursor constituent and the occurrence of similar deposits of the same age (Late Cretaceous) in Nigeria, Sudan and Egypt have implications for the paleoenvironmental interpretations of Phanerozoic ironstone deposits. Received: 16 February 1998 / Accepted: 8 July 1998     

华北古元古代末鲕铁岩:Columbia超大陆 裂解初期的沉积响应

铁建造和鲕铁岩是地史上两类主要的富铁沉积,不仅记录了地球大气与海洋氧化还原状态和化学条件演变,而且也反 应了构造运动、岩浆活动和生物的相互作用过程.过去对铁建造已有深入研究,而有关前寒武纪铁岩成因与古海洋和构造背景 研究甚少.运用扫描电镜(scanningelectronicmicroscopy,简称SEM)、X射线衍射(X-raydiffraction,简称XRD)、能谱(energy dispersive spectroscopy,简称EDS)技术分析铁鲕的微组构、矿物成分和化学组成,讨论华北串岭沟组(1.65~1.64Ga)鲕铁岩 的成因环境及其与Columbia超大陆裂解的关系.研究表明,铁鲕主要由赤铁矿和少量高岭石组成,贫陆源碎屑和Al2O3;鲕包 壳由微片状赤铁矿构成的致密和疏松纹层交互组成;Fe-Al呈明显的负相关性,表明铁主要源于缺氧富铁深海水体而非陆源 风化.鲕铁岩集中在快速海进和低陆源输入引起的沉积饥饿期,发育于氧化还原界面附近的潮下贫氧环境.与超大陆裂解伴生 的岩浆活动、基底沉降和快速海侵是促进鲕铁岩形成的重要因素.串岭沟组底部铁岩是华北地台响应Columbia超大陆裂解而 发生构造与环境转化的重要沉积记录.      

Mechanism of formation of Haddat Ash Sham ironstones (Oligo-Miocene), Makkah Al Mokaramah District, West Central Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

The present study aims to shed light on the mechanism of formation of the Oligo-Miocene oolitic ironstones of Haddat Ash Sham area, Saudi Arabia. These ironstones are enclosed within the middle part of the Oligo-Miocene siliciclastic succession of the western part of the Arabian Shield, western Saudi Arabia. The ironstone beds were formed during marine incursion and creation of short-lived starved time periods of high organic matter activities, ferrous iron, and low clastic input. The depositional and diagenetic processes involved in the formation of Haddat Ash Sham ironstones are summarized here as follows: (1) the deposition of detrital components (i.e., amorphous iron-bearing clays admixed with silt and sand-sized quartz grains) and their distribution by the waves and current actions in areas of different water depths (bars and inter-bar areas); (2) the deposition of the iron-bearing clays in slightly reducing transgressive conditions (dysaerobic zone) led to the authigenesis of green marine chamositic clays of variable mineralogical and chemical compositions according to the predominated depositional environments; and (3) in the upper parts of the depositional cycles, the iron-bearing clays become admixed with detrital quartz grains which resulted in the formation of silty and sandy ironstones of low iron content. The diagenetic processes led to the oxidation of the green chamositic clays and formation of amorphous Fe-oxyhydroxides, ferrihydrites, goethite, and hematite. These iron mineral phases are related to each other and show progressive steps of transformation during the diagenetic processes. The iron ooids represent in situ formed irregular domains formed during the diagenetic crystallization and dehydration of the amorphous iron oxyhdroxides resulted from the diagenetic oxidation of green chamositic clays. This is supported by the absence of detrital cores of the iron ooids, the gradational contact between the iron ooids and the enclosing matrix and also by the presence of many ooids of unclear and ill-defined internal structure.     

四川龙门山马角坝组铁质鲕粒成因及沉积环境

本文应用显微镜和扫描电镜对下石炭统马角坝组顶部的铁质鲕粒的研究发现:铁质鲕粒由核心和同心圈层组成,核心成分主要是赤铁矿碎屑和石英颗粒,圈层厚度较小,整体呈胶状形态,由赤铁矿围绕核心呈致密板状平行排列,整体上结构一致;铁质鲕粒是在适合的pH、Eh条件下,大量铁质围绕石英碎屑或矿物碎屑转动时胶体沉积形成的,沉积环境为潮间-潮下的浅水动荡环境,是大规模海退暴露后海平面初始上升期的产物。     

Pellets, ooids, sepiolite and silica in three calcretes of the southwestern United States

Pellets and ooids are widespread and locally abundant in mature calcrete profiles in the Argus Range, California; near Wickieup, Arizona; and in Kyle Canyon, Nevada. Most concentrations of pellets and ooids either overlie laminar calcrete at various levels in the calcrete profile or fill subhorizontal fractures in the petrocalcic horizon. In all three profiles the petrocalcic horizon has been thickened by the pelletal, chemically deposited fracture fillings. Pellets range from 0.02 to 8.0 mm in diameter and consist principally of micritic calcite and sepiolite. Ooid coatings are chiefly calcite and opal or calcite and sepiolite. The pellets represent small concretions, some of which grew by accretion, either in void space or by displacing adjacent sediment, and the others of which were formed by cementation of pellet-shaped bodies of porous micrite. Ooid coatings with opal or sepiolite may have been deposited as a gel with sufficient strength for surface tension to thin the coatings over angular corners of nuclei so as to increase the roundness and sphericity of the particles. Major problems in calcrete genesis are (1) the cause of subhorizontal fractures and the mechanism for widening a fracture as sediment accumulates in it and (2) what determines the deposition of calcite, sepiolite, and opal as pellets and ooid coatings or as laminar layers.     

Paleoenvironmental significance of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals in the upper Cretaceous ooidal ironstones,E-NE Aswan area,southern Egypt

Aluminum phosphate-sulfate (APS) minerals are present as small, disseminated crystals in the upper Cretaceous shallow marine ooidal ironstones, E-NE Aswan area, southern Egypt. Their association with the ironstones is considered as a proxy of subaerial weathering and post-diagenetic meteoric water alteration. The mineralogical composition of the ooidal ironstones was investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopes, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy. The ooidal ironstones are composed mainly of ooids and groundmass, both of which consist of a mixture of detrital (quartz) and diagenetic (fluorapatite, chamosite and pyrite) mineral assemblages. These mineral assemblages are destabilized under acidic and oxidizing, continental conditions. These conditions resulted from the oxidation of pyrite and probably organic matter under warm and humid, tropical climate followed the Santonian Sea regression and subaerial exposure. These pedogenic conditions promoted corrosion of quartz, dissolution of chamosite and apatite and hydrolysis of feldspars of the nearby exposed granitoids. The released Si, Al and Sr from quartz, chamosite and feldspars; Fe and S from pyrite and P, Ca and light rare earth elements (LREE) from apatite are reprecipitated as hematite, kaolinite, apatite and APS minerals from the pore fluids or along fractures. The paragenetic sequence and textural relationships of this post-diagenetic mineral assemblage indicate that hematite was formed by replacement of chamosite followed by formation of a secondary generation of pore filling chlorapatite and APS minerals and finally the precipitation of kaolinite in the remaining pore spaces. The formation of APS minerals and chlorapatite is simultaneous, but APS minerals are stable at shallow depths under acidic to neutral pH conditions, whereas chlorapatite is stable under alkaline pH conditions. Alkaline conditions were maintained at greater depths when the infiltrated acidic fluids reacted with chamosite. The APS minerals display a homogeneous chemical composition in all ironstone locations in Aswan area, corresponding to a solid solution between crandallite (CaAl₃(PO₄)₂(OH)₅·H₂O), goyazite (SrAl₃(PO₄)₂(OH)₅·H₂O), svanbergite (SrAl₃(PO₄)(SO₄)(OH)₆) and woodhouseite (CaAl₃(PO₄)(SO₄)(OH)₆) end-members. The variations in the APS mineral chemistry (AB₃(XO₄)₂(OH)₆) are essentially due to variable substitutions of Sr and LREE for Ca at the A site and limited S for P at the X site. The spatial distribution of APS minerals and their composition in the ooidal ironstones of Aswan area permitted to consider them as good tracers of physicochemical and paleoenvironmental changes, in particular those associated with subaerial exposure and pedogenesis. The post-diagenetic phosphatization and kaolinization of the Aswan ironstones decrease their economic potentiality; thus, understanding paragenetic sequence and textural relationships is essential for the iron ore beneficiation.     

龙门山区北川甘溪剖面泥盆系养马坝组铁质鲕粒成因及其古环境讨论

龙门山区中泥盆统养马坝组底部发育丰富的铁质鲕粒。为分析该铁质鲕粒成因,本文以甘溪石沟里剖面精细实测为基础,通过详细的薄片和扫描电镜等分析,对铁质鲕粒的特征进行了研究,分析结果表明:龙门山区北川甘溪泥盆系养马坝组鲕粒类型多样,鲕粒核心包括石英碎屑颗粒、海百合碎片、黑色赤铁矿和方解石等4种类型,鲕粒圈层可分为明暗相间圈层、颜色均匀圈层和绿泥石圈层等3种类型。根据鲕粒核心和外部圈层的组合,可将甘溪泥盆系养马坝组的铁质鲕粒划分为粉砂质鲕粒、铁化鲕粒和绿泥石薄皮鲕粒等3种类型。龙门山区北川甘溪泥盆系养马坝组铁质鲕粒对古环境具有重要的指示意义,粉砂质鲕粒形成于开放近岸浅海氧化环境,而铁化鲕粒和绿泥石薄皮鲕粒则指示浅海滨岸中相对封闭的泻湖与残积鲕粒滩环境。     

Origin and composition of the ferruginous oolites and laterites of North-Western Nigeria

The ferruginous deposits of north-western Nigeria occur extensively capping sediments which outcrop over thousands of square kilometers. These deposits could be subdivided into 3 major groups:

1. Ferruginous oolites;
2. Crusty/Concretionary laterites;
3. Ferruginous sandstones.

The iron-rich oolites are primary deposits and deposition of ferruginous materials occurred during the late Paleocene. All gradations can be traced between a pure oolitic ironstone and concretionary laterite with scattered oolitic grains of limonite. The crusty laterites and Ferruginous sandstone were formed during the late Tertiary or early Quaternary. They are definitely post Miocene in age and consists of abundant angular quartz grains embedded in a matrix of gothite, haematite, limonite and clay. The laterites and oolites posses different element concentrations which indicate formation under different environmental conditions ranging from deep Marine through shallow near shore marine to continental (fluviatile and lacustrine). The crusty laterites and ferruginous sandstones in northwestern Nigeria attain a thickness of approximately 4 meters or more forming the crust of flat-topped hills or mesas. They are almost certainly equivalent to the laterites covering much of the Northern plains and the Fluvio-volcanic series of the Jos Plateau. In northwestern Nigeria the laterites are restricted to outcrops of sediments of appropriate composition and drainage properties. These ferruginous deposits are usually massive with almost horizontal bedding planes marked by abrupt or gradual changes in morphology and lithology. Cross bedding and ripple-marks can be observed at Gundumi and Imasa as well as in Birnin Kebbi and large scale stratification of the laterites occur at Kalambaina. Laminations are generally localised.     

Mineralogy and geochemistry of Late Ordovician phosphate-bearing oolitic ironstones from NW Sardinia, Italy

Summary. ?In the Nurra region, NW Sardinia, oolitic ironstones are interlayered within coarsening upward metasedimentary sequences of siltstone, sandstone, breccia, and conglomerate. A Caradoc-Early Ashgill age is suggested by the analogies with metasediments of Central-Southern Sardinia following the Sardinian tectonic phase. The sequences including oolitic ironstones are overlain by black metapelite of inferred Hirnantian to early Silurian age. The ooids consist of chamosite, siderite or magnetite or, rarely, stilpnomelane. Chamosite ooids consist of up to 30 lamellae and sporadically show clustering of magnetite grains in core and rim, and widespread late replacement by siderite. The alternation of chamosite and Fe-oxide observed in a few samples points to an ooid transport over the crests and hollows of megaripples in a continental shelf at 0–60 m depth, and/or a random displacement of the littoral environments in a rapidly evolving continent-sea transition zone producing an alternation of oxidizing and reducing conditions. Black phosphate clasts, including older Fe-ooids, frequently occur. The oolitic ironstones of Nurra are variable mixtures of an Al-Si-Ti rich- detrital component and a Fe-rich chemical component. The abundance of chamosite and siderite explains the high values of LOI and the high Fe_tot, Fe²⁺ and Al contents and the low Si amounts in comparison with other Phanerozoic oolitic ironstones. The detrital elements are Al, Si, Ti, Mg, Zr, Th. Chemical precipitation processes supplied Fe, Ca, P, Sr, HREE. The chondrite-normalized pattern shows a slight LREE enrichment, a clear negative Eu anomaly, and a flat HREE trend typical of many Ordovician oolitic ironstones. The NASC-normalized pattern has a convex shape, with peaks for Sm, Gd, like in all the pre-Devonian phosphate deposits. The numerous phosphate clasts, pyrite pockets, diffuse organic matter, and lack of glauconite suggest an upward extension of the oxygen minimum layer in a stratified basin, up to a depth of 60 m, and allow the estimation of log fO₂ = − 72 to − 80 and pH = 9.0–9.5. for the underlying pyrite zone (depth > 60 m). Here the pore waters leached Eu²⁺ from the bottom sediments giving the observed negative anomaly of the chondrite-normalized REE pattern.

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Résumé ?Dans la région de la Nurra, Sardaigne nord-ouest, des niveaux ferrugineux oolithiques sont intercalés dans des séquences métasédimentaires composées de silts, grès, brèches et conglomerats. Un age Caradoc-Ashgill inférieur est suggéré par les analogies avec les métasédiments de la Sardaigne centrale-méridionale postérieurs à la phase tectonique Sarde. Les séquences qui contiennent les niveaux ferrugineux oolithiques sont surmontées par des métapélites noires pour lesquelles on suppose un age Hirnantien à Siliurien inférier. Les oolithes sont constituées de chamosite, siderite ou magnétite ou rarement, stilpnomelane. Les oolithes de chamosite peuvent avoir jusq’à 30 enveloppes dans le cortex et sporadiquement elles montrent une concentration de grains de magnétite au centre et sur le bord et un vaste replacement tardif par de la sidérite. L’alternation de enveloppes à chamosite et à oxydes de fer observée dans quelques échantillons indique un transport des oolithes sur la crête et dans la dépression de rides géantes sur une plateforme continentale à 0–60 m de profondeur et/ou bien un déplacement casuel des milieux c?tiers dans une zone de transition entre mer et continent en rapide évolution, ce qui produisait une alternation de conditions oxydantes et réduisantes. On trouve fréquemment des intraclastes noirs de phosphate qui contiennent des oolithes ferrugineuses plus anciennes. Les niveaux oolithiques ferrugineux de la Nurra sont le résultat d’un mélange en proportions variables entre une composante détritique riche en Al, Si,Ti et une composante chimique riche en fer. L’abondance de chamosite et sidérite explique les hautes valeurs de perte au feu et la haute teneur en Fe_tot, Fe²⁺ et Al et la basse teneur en Si en comparaison avec d’autres formations oolithiques ferrugineuses Phanérozo?ques. Les éléments détritiques sont Al, Si, Ti, Mg, Zr, Th. Les processus de précipitation chimique ont fourni Fe, Ca., P, Sr, HREE. Les teneurs de terres rares normalisées aux chondrites montrent un léger enrichissement en LREE, une évidente anomalie négative de Eu, et une disposition en plateau des HREE, qui est tipique de beaucoup de formations oolithiques ferrugineuses Ordoviciennes. Les teneurs normalisées aux NASC forment une courbe convexe avec deux maxima pour Sm et Gd, comme dans tout les dép?ts phosphatés pré-Dévoniens. Les nombreux intraclastes de phosphate, les cavités pleines de pyrite, l’abondance de matière organique et l’absence de glacounie suggèrent une extension vers plus faible profondeurs ( jusq’à 60 m) de la couche d’eau marine ayant la moindre teneur en oxygène dans un bassin stratifié. Pour la zone à pyrite qui est en dessous de la zone oolithique (profondeur > 60 m) on estime les conditions suivantes: log fO₂ = − 72 à− 80 et pH = 9.0–9.5. Les eaux intergranulaires solubilisent et emportent le Eu²⁺ des sediments du fond et donnent l’anomalie négative de Eu pour les teneurs de terres rares normalisées aux chondrites.

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Received February 10, 1999;/revised version accepted June 30, 1999     

扬子台地西南部奥陶系宝塔组底部含鲕绿泥石灰岩成因意义

对四川省兴文县上奥陶统宝塔组底部含鲕绿泥石灰岩开展成因研究,有助于了解扬子台地西南部同时期的沉积环境演化过程.通过沉积学分析,并辅助以电子探针和扫描电镜等矿物学研究方法,发现富鲕绿泥石鲕粒及球粒为同生期沉积物,共生的生物碎屑组合指示海水为氧化性水体.丰富的微生物相关组构表明同期微生物席发育,且其代谢活动可致使水岩界面附近形成还原性水体,这是同生鲕绿泥石形成的必要条件,鲕绿泥石形成所需的Fe、Al元素来自早期风化壳在海侵阶段的大规模输入.宝塔组底部富鲕绿泥石灰岩是同期全球海平面演化在扬子台地的具体表现,佐证了早桑比期的海平面下降,是晚桑比期扬子台地快速海侵的重要标志.      

Origin of ferricretes in fluvial-marine deposits of the Lower Cenomanian Bahariya Formation,Bahariya Oasis,Western Desert,Egypt

The type section of the Lower Cenomanian Bahariya Formation at Gebel El-Dist (Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert), Egypt, comprises claystones, mudstones, siltstones and sandstones deposited in fluvial-deltaic coastal plain, lagoonal, estuarine and shallow marine environments. The formation is characterized by an abundance of ferruginous sandstones that locally weather to form prominent iron crusts. These centimeter to decimeter-scale ferruginous horizons display a continuum of features ranging from unaltered sandstone with a pervasive ferruginous matrix to distinct ironstone beds with massive, nodular, vesicular and pisolitic textures. Ferruginous sandstone typically occurs at the tops of sandstone beds, or bracketing the base and top of beds, in the fining-upward cycles of deltaic plain deposits in the lower part of the formation and on a low-energy fluvial floodplain in the middle of the formation. Indurated ironstone beds occur mainly as the caps of coarsening-upward cycles of prograding shoreface sediments through much of the formation. We interpret the ironstone crusts as ferricretes, formed by iron accumulation that resulted from the oxidation and precipitation of soluble iron or colloids transported in the sediment load or by groundwater. This accumulation possibly took place at the water table or possibly below the water table at the fresh water/saline water interface. However, base-level fall and subsequent subaerial exposure of the sediments resulted in reworking and pedogenic modification of some of the iron-impregnated horizons.     

Ironstones in the Upper Oxfordian of southern England

The Upper Calcareous Grit, the last of the four upward shallowing cycles that comprise the Corallian Beds of southern England, is relatively enriched in iron minerals, having local developments of chamosite oolite mudstone and much more widespread deposits of sand and mud containing variable amounts of siderite and disseminated chamosite. The chamosite oolite mudstones have a restricted fauna dominated by oysters and probably accumulated in slightly hyposaline lagoons where the ooids formed from mixed iron-, alumina- and silica-bearing gels. Siderite was produced during diagenesis from iron carried on the surface of clay minerals. This intimate association with the terrigenous clay fraction means that siderite occurs in sediments deposited in a variety of environments ranging from offshore shelf to lagoonal. The most important factor responsible for ironstone development was a very low rate of clastic supply throughout Upper Calcareous Grit times. The iron was probably derived by normal processes of weathering and erosion of sedimentary rocks exposed around the basin margin, but this cannot be conclusively proved and quite different iron sources may have been involved.     

Miocene goethitic and chamositic oolites, northeastern Colombia

The late (?) Miocene non-marine to paralic Guayabo Group in northeastern Colombia and adjacent Venezuela contains as many as thirty-four thin (to 15 cm) goethitic and chamositic oolites and ooid-bearing sandstones in 1080 m of section. This eastward prograding deltaic complex consists mainly of chert-rich litharenite in fluvial, distributary channel, and shoreline facies, and of montmorillonite mudstone in floodplain and interdistributary embayment facies. Within this framework the oolites are restricted to a paralic association that developed during episodes of waning detrital sedimentation when distributary abandonment was followed by minor transgression across mudflats. Most of the multilayered and symmetrical ooids are composed of goethite, rarely with a small amount of chamosite. These are essentially spherical; many of the chamosite-rich ones have been plastically deformed. Goethitic ooids resemble those in a thin layer accumulating in brackish Lake Chad, central Africa. Chamositic ooids have affinities with those accumulating in a sea loch in western Scotland. Each of these examples is associated with detrital (silicate) sedimentation, apparently developed directly from colloidal ferric oxide and silicate precursors, and affords no evidence that primary aragonitic ooids were later placed by ironbearing oxide and clay.     

Problematic microscopic trace (?) fossils, Oligocene, Slovakia

Meioscopic to microscopic capsules found in reddish, probably marine or brackish shales (Oligocene, Pannonian Basin; South Slovakia) are interpreted as possible trace fossils. They may represent burrows of meioscopic in-fauna. Ferruginous walls of the capsules appeared very probably as late as during diagenesis; however, the (possibly organic) matrix had to exist before the diagenetic processes. Other discussed explanations (inorganic “ironstones”; coprolites) are not plausible.     

Depositional environments and iron ooid formation in condensed sections (Callovian–Oxfordian, south-eastern Paris basin, France)

Carbonate platforms across Western Europe were superseded at the Middle–Upper Jurassic (Callovian–Oxfordian) boundary either by alternating marl–limestone and widespread marl deposits or by condensed sections containing iron ooids. The characteristics of marine condensed sections in the south-eastern part of the Paris Basin (France) and their distribution pattern are examined here, and a model of iron ooid formation is developed. Iron ooids are found from the shoreface to the offshore zone. They are most abundant in the median-to-distal offshore transition zone, where they originally formed. They also occur commonly, albeit often as reworked grains, in the proximal offshore zone, to which they were transported. The contemporaneous, thick, predominantly marl sections that occur laterally are devoid of iron ooids and were deposited in deeper settings (distal offshore zone). The iron ooids are composed of goethite. Typically, they have a nucleus made up of a clump of goethite crystals and a laminated cortex. Three distinctive nanostructures are identified in the cortex laminae: (i) a nanograined crystalline structure typical of primary goethite; (ii) a secondary nanoflaked structure thought to have formed mechanically by reorientation of the goethite crystals; and (iii) a coalesced structure acquired by subsequent diagenetic recrystallization. The iron ooids formed successively (i) by lamina growth when goethite precipitated in the surface layer of the sediment (nanograined structure) and (ii) by interruption of growth when the ooids were remobilized by hydrodynamic agents, as reflected by the flaked nanostructure; (iii) these two nanostructures were sometimes transformed into a coalesced structure by recrystallization when ooids were buried.     

Paleo-environment of iron-rich sedimentary rocks

It is possible to apply actualistic principles to the interpretation of the paleoenvironment of iron-rich sedimentary rocks, although few iron-rich sediments form today. The sedimentary textures and structures of cherty iron-formations, Minette-tpye ironstones and limestones are similar. These similarities prove that the hydrodynamic processes of the deposition of the three rock types are the same. Therefore, it is possible to define facies of cherty iron-formations and Minette-type ironstones on the basis of their sedimentary textures and structures, disregarding mineralogy, and to interprete the formative environment by comparison with Recent limestones. Shaly sulfide iron-formation and sideritic clay ironstones are ferriferous mudstones. Methods applied to the interpretation of iron-poor shales may also be applied to these two rock types. The mineralogy of iron-rich sedimentary rocks is determined by diagenetic processes. Depositional organic content of the sediment, sediment texture (which controls diffusivity and permeability) and the groundwater flow system during diagenesis are the primary controls of iron-mineral diagenesis. Paleogeography and basin bathymetry are indirect controls of iron mineralogy, because they affect organic content and sediment texture.