DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCE (GEOLOGY)

ASSIGNMENT # 2

Subject: Islamiyat

Enroll No: 01-165182-031

Class: Geology-4A

Submitted to: Dr Sanaullah

Submitted by: Awais Arshad

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD CAMPUS

 Inorganic shale Geochemistry
Shale:

Shale is a sedimentary rock composed of very fine clay particles. Clay forms from the
decomposition of the mineral feldspar. Other minerals present in shale are quartz, mica, pyrite,
and organic matter. Shale forms in very deep ocean water, lagoons, lakes and swamps where the
water is still enough to allow the extremely fine clay and silt particles to settle to the floor.
Geologists estimate that shale represents almost ¾ of the sedimentary rock on the Earth’s crust.

Geologists are specific about the definition of the rock called “shale.” Shale is composed of clay
particles that are less than 0.004 mm in size.

Clay Mineralogy
Baluti shales deposits clay minerals in the Sararu section yield, which is dominated by poor and
kaolinite with mixed layerillite/smectite. Neither chloriten or discrete smectite were found in the
Sararu shales. In the topical section, the soil gathering is dominated by the inlet, which is
abundant in abundance and abundant in heterogeneous quantities. Covalent has long been
accepted as a chemical seasoning product. For this reason, the formation of the kaolinite varies
from climate to climate to humid climate conditions. In addition to the malicious origin, kaolinite
can also be produced by diagnostic processes that are indicated by the enrichment of the studied
shale.

Paleoweathering condition:
The change in proportion of elements in rock is result of weathering of Alkali and Alkaline earth
elements and preferential enrichment of Al2O3 that has taken place. The weathering condition
can also measured in term of molecular percentage of oxide components, using the indexes of
CIA,PIA and ICV, since there is no direct method to quantify the contents of CaO belonging to
silicate fraction and non silicate fraction ( carbonates and Apatite ) the CIA i.e chemical index of
Alteration is one of the most widely use indexes.

its formula is

CIA = [ Al2O3 / ( Al2O3 + CaO + Na2O + K2O)] x 100

The CIA values in Bulati shale varies from 68.90 to 86.08.

its average is = 81.11.

In the Sararu section and from 67.15 to83.03 (average = 71.53) in the Sarki section. The former
average is higher than PAAS equal to 75and the latter is lower; this implies that the Baluti
Formation sedimentary rocks suffered intense degree of weathering for Sararu, and high to
moderate for Sarki. used a ternary diagram Al2O3–CaO + Na2O–K2O (A–CN–K) to infer the
weathering history at the source area. The studied samples plot in a tight group on the A–K join,
and close to the muscovite point for Sarki shale and close to illite point for Sararu shale.
The formula for PIA is
PIA = [( Al2O3- K2O)/ ( Al2O3 + CaO * + Na2O – K2O)] × 100.

PIA values for Baluti shale range from 96.28 to 99.01 (average = 98.52) in Sararu and from
96.14 to 98.17 (average = 97.23) in Sarki, which suggest intense plagioclase weathering in the
source area.

The ICV is potentially useful to evaluate the degree of chemical weathering, which depicts
formation of aluminous clay minerals over the framework silicate minerals.

Formula for ICV is

ICV = ( CaO + K2O + Na2O + Fe2O3 + MgO + NnO+ TiO2) Al2O3

The ICV values for the Baluti shale vary from 0.48 to 1.76 (average = 0.76) at Sararu and from
0.81 to 2.07 (average = 1.34) at Sarki.

Provenance Study

To infer the Geochemical signatures of clastic sediments we use their provenance characteristics
to identify it, because they reflect the source rock composition, hydraulic sorting during
transport, deposition, and diagenesis. The trace elements concentrated in mafic (Sc, Cr and
Co)and in silicic (La, Th, and REE) sediments, the REE patterns and the size of the Eu anomaly
are considered as important tools to characterize the source rock composition.

Al2O3/TiO2 ratios of most clastic rocks are essentially used to infer the source rock
compositions because the Al2O3/TiO2 ratio increases from 3 to 8 for mafic igneous rocks, from
8 to 21 for intermediate rocks, and from 21 to 70 for felsic igneous rocks. In the Sararu shales,
the Al2O3/TiO2 ratio ranges from 17.81 to 38.86 and in Sarki shales it varies between
30.52 and 48.12. Thus, the Al2O3/TiO2 ratio of this study suggests that felsic-intermediate
igneous rocks were the probable source rocks for the shales of the Baluti Formation.

The provenance of Baluti Formation is carried out based on the concentrations of some elements,
ratios, and plotting on the diagrams. Plot K2O versus Rb
to distinguish between the sediments derived from acidic to intermediate rocks and those derived
from basic rocks. Most of the studied shale of the Baluti Formation lies in the field of
acid and intermediate compositions with some samples of Sararu shale that falls in the basic
field.

Tectonic setting

The chemical composition of the source rock is a function of the tectonic setting and has great
control over the chemistry of sedimentary rocks. Therefore, it can be directly related to the plate
tectonic process and has traditionally been used to identify their tectonic sequence. However, in
recent years, tectonic discrimination relies on major elements that have received considerable
criticism. Detect elements, especially those that are relatively stable with relative residence times
in seawater (i.e., La, Nd, Th, Zr, Hf, Nb, and Ti) for tectonic setting discrimination.
Paleoredox conditions and trace element enrichments
Some trace elements and their proportions are considered to be useful tools for the determination
of clastic rocks to paleoredox conditions. Some multi-valence detecting elements such as V, Mo,
U, and Ni, their movement, precipitation, and concentration are mostly controlled by the redox
conditions and are thus considered as redox-sensitive elements. Anoxic are generally rich in
sediments. The elemental ratios such as U/Th,V/Cr, V/Sc, and Cu/Zn have been used to evaluate
paleoredox conditions. The ratio of U to Th may be used as a redox indicator with U/Th ratio
being higher in organic rich mudstones. U /Th ratios below 1.25 suggest oxic conditions of
deposition, whereas values above 1.25 indicate sub-oxic and anoxic conditions. According to this
study, low U/Th ratio 0.48 and 0.36 in Sararu and Sarki, respectively.