Nature of the Structural and Crystal-Chemical Heterogeneity of the Mg-Rich Glauconite (Riphean, Anabar Uplift)

The detailed mineralogical and structural-crystal-chemical characteristics are reported for the first time for glauconite grains extracted from the fine-platy silty-sandy dolomites at the roof of the lower subformation of the Yusmastakh Formation (Riphean, Anabar Uplift, North Siberia). Based on the complex study (X-ray diffraction, classical chemical analysis, microprobe analysis, IR-spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy with microprobe analysis, and Mossbauer spectroscopy), it was demonstrated that the studied glauconite sample is characterized by unique chemical and structural heterogeneity. The mineral structure consists of micaceous (90%), smectite (6%), and di-trioctahedral chlorite (4%) layers. Mica is classed with Al-glauconite (Al > Fe3+) with elevated Mg content. The elevated Mg mole fraction of the mineral is caused by the presence of Mg-bearing brucite-type interlayers of di-trioctahedral chlorite and the high Mg content in the octahedral sheets of 2 : 1 layers. It was first discovered that glauconites are characterized by the heterogeneous distribution of cations over the available trans- and cis-octahedra due to the coexistence of trans- and cis-vacant octahedra and small trioctahedral clusters in octahedral sheets. The distribution of isomorphic cations over the accessible octahedral sites is also heterogeneous due to the tendency of Fe, Mg and Al, Mg cations to segregation and formation of corresponding domains. It was found that structure of the studied glauconite has a specific stacking defect: in addition to the predominant subsequent layers of similar azimuthal orientation according to 1M type (similar to 77%), some layer fragments are rotated at 180 (similar to 15%) and +/- 120 degrees (8%). The structural-crystal-chemical heterogeneity of the mineral is explained by the fact that its microcrystals grew in the dolomitic sediment under nonequilibrium conditions of the reduction zone of a shallow-water basin with a sufficiently high content of Mg cations, which significantly contributed to the glauconite formation. DOI: 10.1134/S0024490210060040