Lithological control on the occurrence of chlorite in the diagenetic Wealden complex of the Bilbao anticlinorium (Basco-Cantabrian Basin, Northern Spain)

Abstract

AbstractSandstones and shales from the southern flank of the Bilbao anticline in the Gordexola and Orozko valleys, northwestern Spain, have been subjected to a detailed sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical study. They are composed of proximal frontdeltaic sandbars interbedded with silty-clayey sediments and correspond to a prograding sequence of a deltaic system. The clay mineral assemblages of doublets of sandstones and shales are composed mainly of illite, chlorite and illite-smectite mixed-layers R3 (ISII). The clay diagenesis consists of the transformation of smectite and I-S mixed-layers to illite, the precipitation of Fe-rich chlorite in the pore spaces, and the alteration of micas to chlorite. According to petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses, chlorite is more abundant in sandstones than in shales in both the <2 µm and coarser fractions. The relative abundance of chlorite increases in the sandstones located at the top of coarsening upward sandbars. Furthermore, chlorite formation occurs preferentially in the coarser grained sansdstones previously cemented by ankerite. The geochemical and petrological investigations suggest that chlorite formed during burial diagenesis in a relatively closed system.