ZEOLITES IN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS AND ZONAL DISTRIBUTION

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SUMMARY: The authors have studied alterations of Cenozoic and Mesozoic pyroclastic rocks of Japan, which contain several kinds of zeolites in abundance. This paper summarizes zeolites in sedimentary rocks, with reference to the depositional environments and zonal distribution, by a survey of the literature in addition to the authors’ data.The zonal distribution of zeolites is recognized in buried sedimentary rocks as follows: image The zeolites in syngenetic or early diagenetic origin depend strongly upon a specific sedimentary environment. Phillipsite occurs largely in pelagic sediments of the younger geologic age. Analcime is found in saline‐lake and terrestrial sediments in a warm, rather arid region, frequently associated with phillipsite, chabazite and natrolite. The zeolites are not influenced by the sedimentary environments but depend upon the depth of burial, i.e., increasing temperature and pressure. Most of clinop‐ tilolite, mordenite and erionite, forming at a relatively shallow depth, occur only as an alteration product of acidic to intermediate volcanic glass and cement of the post‐ Jurassic pyroclastic rocks. Laumontite, forming at a greater depth, on the other hand, is widely distributed in the pre‐Pliocene various sedimentary rocks.