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Comparative influence of burial depth on the clay mineral assemblage of the Agadir-Essaouira basin (western High Atlas, Morocco)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

L. Daoudi ,
B. Ouajhain ,
F. Rocha ,
B. Rhouta ,
N. Fagel  and
D. Chafiki
L. Daoudi*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géosciences et Environnements, Département des Sciences de la Terre, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, B.P. 549–Marrakech, Morocco
B. Ouajhain
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géoscience Marine, Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences, B.P. 20, Eljadida 24000, Morocco
F. Rocha
Affiliation:
Geosciences Department, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
B. Rhouta
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Matière Condensée et Nanostructures (LMCN), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Guéliz, BP 549, Marrakech, Morocco
N. Fagel
Affiliation:
Département de Géologie, Université de Liège, Allée de 6 Aout, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
D. Chafiki
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géosciences et Environnements, Département des Sciences de la Terre, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, B.P. 549–Marrakech, Morocco
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In the western High Atlas basin, the evolution of the clay assemblage of the Upper Jurassic–Cretaceous sedimentary series is controlled by palaeogeographic changes of the basin and by burial diagenesis.The effects of burial are expressed by an increase in the proportions of illite and chlorite with depth, a decrease of expandability of smectite minerals and by a decrease in the Kübler Index.Kaolinite is preserved at greater depths than smectite, but also tends to diminish in abundance. TEM observations show that idiomorphic pseudo-hexagonal crystals of illite increase in size and abundance downwards, especially in the sandy levels.In the Agadir section, the main change in the clay mineral evolution related to late diagenesis occurs at the Mid-Albian, corresponding to a burial depth of about 1800 m; in the Essaouira section it occurs at the Lower Tithonian at a burial depth of about 2100 m.Considering the different geothermal gradient between Agadir (36ºC km–1) and Essaouira (27ºC km–1), the disappearance of smectite occurs at the same temperature in these two sites (60 to 65ºC).

Keywords

clay assemblagesburial diagenesisinheritanceKübler IndexAgadir-Essaouira basinwestern High AtlasMorocco
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , December 2010 , pp. 453 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2010

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