| Date: |
2008 |
| Abstract: |
Clay minerals in chilled or brecciated margins (altered glass) and massive inner crystalline parts (mesostasis) of three basalt-hawaiite bodies from Mururoa Atoll (French Polynesia) have been studied in order to compare their chemical and mineralogical compositions. Polyphase assemblages comprise di- and trioctahedral phases, both of which consist of non-expandable layers (chlorite, celadonite) and two types of expandable layers (saponite and Fe-rich smectite or 'nontronite-like' material). The presence of the Fe-rich clays is supported by the presence of the X-ray diffraction 060 peak at 1. 51-1. 52 Å and of the infrared absorption bands at 875 and 822 cm (Fe-Al-OH and Fe-Fe-OH groups, respectively). The chemical composition of the Fe-rich smectites does not fit with the theoretical nontronite field. The layer charge averages 1 per SiO making these Fe-rich smectites close to 'celadonite-type' clays. This could explain the presence of mixed-layer celadonite-smectite. Plotted in an M/4Si vs. Fe/sum octahedral cations diagram, the chemical compositions of clay minerals in the mesostasis form a continuous field limited by the celadonite high-charge nontronite-like smectite and chlorite end-members. The clay assemblages are different from those formed in hydrothermal systems or low-grade metamorphic conditions which are characterized by the sequence: saponite → randomly ordered chlorite-smectite mixed-layered minerals (MLMs)→ corrensite → chlorite. The systematic presence of Ferich clays either in the altered chilled margins or in the massive inner parts of the basalt-hawaiite bodies (high-charge nontronite-like smectite and mixed-layer nontronite-celadonite) makes the Mururoa seamount a potential terrestrial analogue for Mars surface exploration. |
| Rights: |
Tots els drets reservats.  |
| Language: |
Anglès |
| Document: |
Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
| Subject: |
Basalt ;
C-S ;
Celadonite ;
French Polynesia ;
Glass ;
Mesostasis ;
Mururoa ;
Nontronite ;
Vesicle |
| Published in: |
Clays and Clay Minerals, Vol. 56, Núm. 6 (2008) , p. 711-729, ISSN 1552-8367 |
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