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Origin of illite in the loess from the Luochuan area, Loess Plateau, Central China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

Junfeng Ji ,
Jun Chen  and
Huayu Lu
Junfeng Ji
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Mineral Deposit Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Jun Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Mineral Deposit Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Huayu Lu
Affiliation:
Xi'an Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Academia Sinica, Xi'an, 710061, China
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Abstract

Illite, the predominant component of the clay fraction of the Chinese loess, has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) in 33 samples taken from the Holocene palaeosol (S0), the last glacial loess (L1) and the last interglacial palaeosol (S1) in the Louchuan loess section of the Loess Plateau in China. The XRD investigations indicate that it is mainly a 2M1 dioctahedral mineral with crystallinity values ranging from 0.23 to 0.36°Δ2θ (CIS Index). The 2M1 polytype illites with low IC values preclude a pedogenic formation of illites in the surface horizons of aridic and semi-aridic soils or deserts, and thus the clay mineral composition was largely determined by provenance. The illites are considered to be of detrital origin derived from pre-existing sediments and very low- to low-grade metamorphic rocks, eroded from the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The clay content of the loess and palaeosols was largely controlled by the strength of the winter monsoon, rather than by effects of in situ pedogenetic processes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 525 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1999

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