Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T14:45:21.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Occurrences and genesis of palygorskite/sepiolite and associated minerals in the Barzaman formation, United Arab Emirates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Salah Draidia ,
Meriam El Ouahabi ,
Lahcen Daoudi ,
Hans-Balder Havenith  and
Nathalie Fagel
Salah Draidia*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Géorisques et Environnement, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium Department of Geology, AGEs, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Meriam El Ouahabi
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, AGEs, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Lahcen Daoudi
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Laboratory of Geosciences and Environment, University of Cadi Ayaad, Marrakech, Morocco
Hans-Balder Havenith
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Géorisques et Environnement, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Nathalie Fagel
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, AGEs, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Barzaman Formation exposed in the United Arab Emirates was deposited as a series of fluvial sediment sequences lying along the western margin of the Hajar Mountains, part of the Oman–UAE ophiolite. This formation consists of a sequence of rocks dominated by variably cemented and altered conglomerates comprising calcareous siltstones and calcareous clays deposited during the Miocene to Pliocene under a humid climate. The conglomerates are composed largely of ultramafic and lesser-mafic clasts. The present study was undertaken in order to understand the occurrence and genesis of palygorskite and sepiolite in relation to the environmental changes including evaporitic and sabkha environments.

Sediments were collected from two trenches and a drill hole of ∼22 m depth. Samples were analysed by optical petrograpy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Pedogenesis occurred at the deeper level in well cemented conglomerate which constitutes the hard crust. Post-depositional erosion started in marine phreatic or vadose zones as shown by the neoformation of serpentine from the weathering of olivine as well as of calcite and dolomite. Neoformation of palygorskite, sepiolite, dolomite and halite occurred under evaporitic conditions on calcareous silty clay facies. Relatively hot, vadose and oxidizing environmental conditions affected the calcareous siltstone facies leading to the genesis of dolomite and palygorskite by direct precipitation from solution rich in Ca, Mg, Al, Fe and Si ions.

Keywords

Dubaipalygorskite/sepioliteneoformationpedogenesismineralogysabkha environnent
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 51 , Issue 5 , December 2016 , pp. 763 - 779
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alsharhan, A.S., Strohmenger, C.J. & Al-Mansoori, A. (2014) Mesozoic Petroleum Systems of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Pp. 679-711 in: PetroleumSystems of the Tethyan Region (L. Marlow, C.E. Kendall, and, L.A.. Yose, editors). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 106.Google Scholar
Azam, S. (2007) Study on the geological and engineering aspects of anhydrite/gypsum transition in the Arabian Gulf coastal deposits. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 66, 177–185.Google Scholar
Badraoui, M., Bloom, P.R. & Bouabid, R. (1992) Palygorskite-smectite association in a xerochrept of the high Chaouia region of Morocco. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 56, 1640–1646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béchennec, F., Le Métour, J., Rabu, D., Bourdillon-de-Grissac, C., De Wever, P., Beurrier, M.T. & Villey, M. (1990) The Hawasina nappes: Stratigraphy, palaeo-geography and structural evolution of a fragment of the south-Tethyan passive continental margin. Pp. 213—223 in: The Geology and Tectonics of the Oman Region (A.H.F. Robertson, M.P Searle and, A.C.. Ries, editors). Special Publications, 49, Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Béchennec, F., Le Métour, J., Platel, I. & Roger, J. (1993) Explanatory notes to the geological map of the sultanate of Oman, scale 1/1,000,000. Directorate General of Minerals, Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, Oman.Google Scholar
Birsoy, R. (2002) Formation of sepiolite-palygorskite and related minerals from solution. Clays and Clay Minerals, 50, 736–745.Google Scholar
Biscaye, P.E. (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clay in the Atlantic ocean and adjacent seas and oceans. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 76, 803–832.Google Scholar
Boote, D., Mou, D. & Waite, R. (1990) Structural evolution of the Suneinah foreland, central Oman mountains. Pp. 397—418 in: The Geology and Tectonics of the Oman Region (A.H.F. Robertson, M.P. Searle and, A.C.. Ries, editors). Special Publications, 49, Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Brooke, B.P., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Woodroffe, C.D. & Heijnis, H. (2003) Quaternary aminostratigraphy of eolianite on Lord Howe island, southwest Pacific Ocean. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 387–406.Google Scholar
Butler, G. (1965) Early Diagenesis in the Recent Sediments of the Trucial Coast of the Persian Gulf. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Callen, R.A. (1984) Clays of the palygorskite-sepiolite group: Depositional environment, age and distribution. Pp. 1—37 in: Palygorskite—Sepiolite (E. Singer and E. Galán, editors) Developments in Sedimentology, 37, Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Chamley, H. (1989) Clay Sedimentology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 623 pp.Google Scholar
Chardot, V., Echevarria, G., Gury, M., Massoura, S. & Morel, J. (2007) Nickel bioavailability in an ultramafic toposequence in the Vosges Mountains (France). Plant and Soil, 293, 7–21. Google Scholar
Cook, H.E., Johnson, P.D., Matti, J.C. & Zemmels, I. (1975) IV. Methods of sample preparation, and X-ray diffraction data analysis, X-ray mineralogy laboratory, Deep Sea Drilling Project, University of California, Riverside. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 25.Google Scholar
Daoudi, L. (2004) Palygorskite in the uppermost Cretaceous-Eocene rocks from Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 39, 353–358.Google Scholar
Farrant, A., Price, S., Arkley, S., Finlayson, A., Thomas, R. & Leslie, A. (2012) Geology oftheAlLisaili 1: 100,000 map Sheet, 100-6, United Arab Emirates. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK.Google Scholar
Gebelein, C.D. & Hoffman, P. (1973) Algal origin of dolomite laminations in stromatolitic limestone. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 43, 603–61.Google Scholar
Golden, D., Dixon, J., Shadfan, H. & Kippenberger, L. (1985) Palygorskite and sepiolite alteration to smectite under alkaline conditions. Clays and Clay Minerals, 33, 44—50.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, F., Calaforra, J., Cardona, F., Orti, E., Durán, J. & Garay, P. (2008) Geological and environmental implications of the evaporite karst in Spain. Environmental Geology, 53, 951–965.Google Scholar
Harrison, R. (1977) Caliche profiles: Indicators of near-surface subaerial diagenesis, Barbados, West Indies. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 25, 123–173.Google Scholar
Hillier, S. & Pharande, A. (2008) Contemporary pedogenic formation of palygorskite in irrigation-induced, saline-sodic, shrink-swell soils of Maharashtra, India. Clays and Clay Minerals, 56, 531–548.Google Scholar
Hong, H., Yu, N., Xiao, P., Zhu, Y., Zhang, K. & Xiang, S. (2007) Authigenic palygorskite in Miocene sediments in Linxia basin, Gansu, Northwestern China. Clay Minerals, 42, 45–58.Google Scholar
Isphording, W.C. (1973) Discussion of the occurrence and origin of sedimentary palygorskite-sepiolite deposits. Clays and Clay Minerals, 21, 391–01.Google Scholar
Kiessling, W., Flügel, E. & Golonka, I. (2003) Patterns of Phanerozoic carbonate platform sedimentation. Lethaia, 36, 195–225.Google Scholar
Knidiri, A., Daoudi, L., El Ouahabi, M., Rhouta, B., Rocha, F. & Fagel, N. (2014) Palaeogeographic controls on palygorskite occurrence in Maastrichtian-Palaeogene sediments of the western High Atlas and Meseta Basins (Morocco). Clay Minerals, 49, 595–608.Google Scholar
Lacinska, A.M., Styles, M.T. & Farrant, A.R. (2014) Near-surface diagenesis of ophiolite-derived conglomerates of the Barzaman Formation, United Arab Emirates: A natural analogue for permanent CO2 sequestration via mineral carbonation of ultramafic rocks. Pp. 343–360 in: Tectonic Evolution of the Oman Mountains (H.R. Rollinson, M.P. Searle, I.A. Abbasi, A.I. Al-Lazki & M.H. Al Kindi, editors). Special Publications, 392, Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Lokier, S.W. (2013) Coastal sabkha preservation in the Arabian Gulf. Geoheritage, 5, 11–22.Google Scholar
Lovley, D.R., Chapelle, F.H. & Phillips, E.J. (1990) Fe (III)-reducing bacteria in deeply buried sediments of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Geology, 18, 954–957.Google Scholar
Macklin, S., Ellison, R., Manning, J., Farrant, A. & Lorenti, L. (2012) Engineering geological characterisation of the Barzaman Formation, with reference to coastal Dubai, UAE. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 71, 1–19.Google Scholar
McBride, E.F. (1974) Significance of color in red, green, purple, olive, brown, and gray beds of difunta group, northeastern Mexico. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 44, 760–773.Google Scholar
Micheels, A., Bruch, A.A., Uhl, D., Utescher, T. & Mosbrugger, V. (2007) A late Miocene climate model simulation with ECHAM4/ML and its quantitative validation with terrestrial proxy data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 253, 251–270.Google Scholar
Purser, B.H. (1985) Coastal evaporite systems. Pp. 72–102 in: Hypersaline Ecosystems, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Rodgers, D.W. & Gunatilaka, A. (2003) Bajada formation by monsoonal erosion of a subaerial forebulge Sultanate of Oman. Sedimentary Geology, 154, 127–146.Google Scholar
Singer, A. (1979) Palygorskite in sediments: Detrital, diagenetic or neoformed - a critical review. Geologische Rundschau, 68, 996–1008.Google Scholar
Stanger, G. (2005) A palaeo-hydrogeological model for arsenic contamination in southern and south-east Asia. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 27, 359–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Styles, M., Ellison, R., Arkley, S., Crowley, Q.G., Farrant, A., Goodenough, K.M., McKervey, J., Pharaoh, T., Phillips, E., Schofield, D. & Thomas, R.J. (2006) Thegeology and geophysics of the United Arab Emirates, 2, Geology. The British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK.Google Scholar
Vine, P. (1996) Natural Emirates: Wildlife andEnvironment of the United Arab Emirates. Trident Press Ltd., Australia.Google Scholar
Zaaboub, N., Abdeljaouad, S. & López-Galindo, A. (2005) Origin of fibrous clays in Tunisian Paleogene continental deposits. Journal of African EarthSciences, 43, 491–504.Google Scholar