Clay diagenesis in recent marine fecal pellets

Fecal pellets are ubiquitous in sediment collected from deep ocean ridge, continental shelf and fjord-type estuarine environments off the Canadian West Coast. Fecal pellets of the immature diagenetic stage are composed generally of the same mineral suite as the bulk sea-bottom sample; except that degraded biotite and/or illite has absorbed Fe and K to regrade into glauconite. These fecal pellets (<10 years old) contain 10 to 15% glauconite. Highly evolved monomineralic fecal pellets (e.g. glauconite, smectite) of such modern age show that diagenetic minerals commonly associated with burial can be produced by sediment-organism interactions.