[en] : 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 undera humid climate. The conglomerates are composed largelyof 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 genesisof dolomite andpalygorskite by directprecipitation fromsolution rich inCa, Mg, Al,Feand Si ions.
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Draidia, Salah ; Université de Liège > Département de géologie > Argiles, géochimie et environnements sédimentaires
El Ouahabi, Meriam ; Université de Liège > Département de géologie > Argiles, géochimie et environnements sédimentaires
Daoudi, Lahcen; Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech
Havenith, Hans-Balder ; Université de Liège > Département de géologie > Géologie de l'environnement
Fagel, Nathalie ; Université de Liège > Département de géologie > Argiles, géochimie et environnements sédimentaires
Language :
English
Title :
Occurrences and genesis of palygorskite/ sepiolite and associated minerals in the Barzaman formation, United Arab Emirates
Publication date :
2016
Journal title :
Clay Minerals
ISSN :
0009-8558
Publisher :
Mineralogical Society of Great Britain, London, United Kingdom
Alsharhan A.S., Strohmenger C.J. & Al-Mansoori A. (2014) Mesozoic Petroleum Systems of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Pp. 679-711 in: Petroleum Systems of the Tethyan Region (L. Marlow, C.E. Kendall, and L.A. Yose, editors). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 106.
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.
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.
Béchennec F., Le Métour J., Rabu D., Bourdillon-de-Grissac C., De Wever P., Beurrier M.t. & Villey M. (1990) The Hawasina nappes: Stratigraphy, palaeogeography 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.
Béchennec F., Le Métour J., Platel J. & 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.
Birsoy R. (2002) Formation of sepiolite-palygorskite and related minerals from solution. Clays and Clay Minerals, 50, 736-745.
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.
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.
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.
Butler G. (1965) Early Diagenesis in the Recent Sediments of the Trucial Coast of the Persian Gulf. PhD thesis, University of London.
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.
Chamley H. (1989) Clay Sedimentology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 623 pp.
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.
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.
Daoudi L. (2004) Palygorskite in the uppermost Cretaceous-Eocene rocks from Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 39, 353-358.
Farrant A., Price S., Arkley S., Finlayson A., Thomas R.& Leslie A. (2012) Geology of the Al Lisaili 1: 100,000 map Sheet, 100-6, United Arab Emirates. British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK.
Gebelein C.D. & Hoffman P. (1973) Algal origin of dolomite laminations in stromatolitic limestone. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 43, 603-613
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.
Gutiérrez F., Calaforra J., Cardona F., Ortí F., Durán J. & Garay P. (2008) Geological and environmental implications of the evaporite karst in Spain. Environmental Geology, 53, 951-965.
Harrison R. (1977) Caliche profiles: Indicators of nearsurface subaerial diagenesis, Barbados, West Indies. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 25, 123-173.
Hillier S. & Pharande A. (2008) Contemporary pedogenic formation of palygorskite in irrigation-induced, salinesodic, shrink-swell soils of Maharashtra, India. Clays and Clay Minerals, 56, 531-548.
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.
Isphording W.C. (1973) Discussion of the occurrence and origin of sedimentary palygorskite-sepiolite deposits. Clays and Clay Minerals, 21, 391-401.
Kiessling W., Flügel E. & Golonka J. (2003) Patterns of Phanerozoic carbonate platform sedimentation. Lethaia, 36, 195-225.
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.
Lacinska A.M., Styles M.T. & Farrant A.R. (2014) Nearsurface 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.
Lokier S.W. (2013) Coastal sabkha preservation in the Arabian Gulf. Geoheritage, 5, 11-22.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rodgers D.W. & Gunatilaka A. (2003) Bajada formation by monsoonal erosion of a subaerial forebulge, Sultanate of Oman. Sedimentary Geology, 154, 127-146.
Singer A. (1979) Palygorskite in sediments: Detrital, diagenetic or neoformed-a critical review. Geologische Rundschau, 68, 996-1008.
Stanger G. (2005) A palaeo-hydrogeological model for arsenic contamination in southern and south-east Asia. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 27, 359-368.
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) The geology and geophysics of the United Arab Emirates, 2, Geology. The British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK.
Vine P. (1996) Natural Emirates: Wildlife and Environment of the United Arab Emirates. Trident Press Ltd., Australia.
Zaaboub N., Abdeljaouad S. & López-Galindo A. (2005) Origin of fibrous clays in Tunisian Paleogene continental deposits. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 43, 491-504.
