L'halloysite karstique: comparaison des gisements types de Wallonie (Belgique) et du Perigord (France)

Abstract

AbstractTwo cryptokarstic (covered karsts) halloysitic deposits were compared: the Entre Sambre et Meuse in Belgium and the Périgord in France. Both belong to a continental margin subject to marine transgression and regression cycles which enhance the karstic activity. This geodynamic context appears to be very favourable to the formation of halloysite. The similarity of the geodynamic context of both sites leads to a genetic convergence linked to specific properties of the cryptokarstic system, especially, the ability to collect the percolating waters and to juxtapose the conditions of precipitation, accumulation and maturation of the halloysite silico-aluminous gel precursors. However, each site also displays pronounced specificities relevant to: the nature of the host rock of the halloysite (a partly silicified limestone in the first, a smectite-kaolinite argilite in the second); the aluminium source (allochtonous in the first, relatively autochtonous in the second); and the halloysite content of the deposits (of ∼ 100% in the first, and 40% maximum in the second).