Environmental controls on clay minerals of the Mata Amarilla Formation, Austral Basin, Argentina

GÓMEZ PERAL, LUCÍA; VARELA, AUGUSTO; RICHIANO, SEBASTIÁN; CERECEDA, ABRIL; POIRÉ, DANIEL G.

Puerto Madryn

Congreso; XIV Reunión Argentina de Sedimentología; 2014

Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología

The Mata Amarilla Formation is 100 to 350 m-thick and includes gray and black mudstones, alternating with beds of white and gray-yellow fine- and medium-grained sandstones deposited in littoral and continental environments. X-ray diffraction analyses permit the recognition of five main authigenic clay minerals in this succession, which are in variable proportions regarding the sedimentary facies and the section of the succession analyzed. In addition, clay morphologies were determined by SEM, and EDS analysis shows their composition. The porpoise of this study is to deal the relation between the genesis (in situ) of the main clay minerals regarding the paleoenvironmental conditions and processes associated.