SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones 107
Curtis CD and Coleman ML (1986) Controls on the
precipitation of early diagenetic calcite, dolomite and
siderite concretions in complex depositional sequences.
In: Gautier DL (ed.) Roles of Organic Matter in Sedi-
ment Diagenesis, pp. 23–33. Special Publication 38.
Denver: Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Min-
eralogists.
Curtis CD and Spears DA (1968) The formation of
sedimentary iron minerals. Economic Geology 63:
257–270.
Kearsley AT (1989) Iron-rich ooids, their mineralogy and
microfabric: clues to their origin and evolution. In: Young
TP and Taylor WEG (eds.) Phanerozoic Ironstones, pp.
141–164. Special Publication 46. London: Geological
Society of London.
Kimberley MM (1994) Debate about ironstone: has solute
supply been surficial weathering, hydrothermal con-
vection, or exhalation of deep fluids? Terra Nova 8:
116–132.
Odin GS (ed.) (1988) Green Marine Clays, Oolitic Iron-
stone Facies, Verdine Facies, Glaucony Facies and
Celadonite-Bearing Facies – A Comparative Study. Devel-
opments in Sedimentology 45. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Limestones
R C Selley, Imperial College London, London, UK
ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Limestones are one of the most important of all
the sedimentary rocks introduced in (see Sedimentary
Rocks: Mineralogy and Classification). Limestones
are composed largely of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
in the mineral form calcite, but there are several other
important carbonate minerals with which limestones
are associated. This article opens by discussing im-
portant differences between limestones and sand-
stones, and continues by outlining the mineralogy,
classification, and rock names of limestones. This is
followed by a brief account of limestone depositional
environments, and, logically, by their postdeposi-
tional diagenesis. The article concludes with a descrip-
tion of the economic importance of limestones, which
is considerable, and a selected reading list.
Differences between Limestones
and Sandstones
Limestones and sandstones are the two most import-
ant groups of sedimentary rocks. However, lime-
stones pose a completely different set of problems to
Petranek J and Van Houten F (1997) Phanerozoic Ooidal
Ironstones. Special Papers 7. Prague: Czech Geological
Survey.
Spears DA (1989) Aspects of iron incorporation into sedi-
ments with special reference to the Yorkshire Ironstones.
In: Young TP and Taylor WEG (eds.) Phanerozoic
Ironstones, pp. 19–30. Special Publication 46. London:
Geological Society of London.
Taylor JH (1949) The Mesozoic Ironstones of Britain:
Petrology of the Northampton Sand Ironstone. Memoir
of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. London: Geo-
logical Survey of Great Britain.
Van Houten FB and Arthur MA (1989) Temporal patterns
among Phanerozoic oolitic ironstones and oceanic
anoxia. In: Young TP and Taylor WEG (eds.) Phanero-
zoic Ironstones, pp. 33–49. Special Publication 46.
London: Geological Society of London.
Young TP (1993) Sedimentary iron ores. In: Pattrick RAD
and Polya DA (eds.) Mineralization in the British Isles,
pp. 446–489. London: Chapman & Hall.
Young TP and Taylor WEG (eds.) (1989) Phanerozoic
Ironstones. Special Publication 46. London: Geological
Society of London.
those of sandstones, the solutions of which require
the application of different concepts and techniques.
First, limestones, unlike sandstones, are intrabas-
inal in origin. That is to say they form in the envir-
onment in which they are deposited. The source
material of sandstones, by contrast, has been
weathered, eroded, transported, and may finally be
deposited hundreds of kilometres from its point of
origin. Sandstones (or siliciclastic rocks) therefore
often contain many different minerals. Limestones,
by contrast, have a much simpler mineralogy, gener-
ally consisting of only calcite and two or three others
(which will be mentioned shortly). Siliciclastic sand
grains may hold clues to their source, but tell little of
their depositional environment. Limestone grains, by
contrast, although largely monomineralic, occur in a
wide range of sizes and shapes, reflecting their mul-
tiple origins. These grains form in specific environ-
ments from which they are seldom transported.
Limestone grains thus give important clues about
their environment of deposition.
When studying sandstones, vertical profiles of
grain size and analysis of sedimentary structures are
the keys to environmental diagnosis. With limestones,
however, it is the analysis of grain type and texture
that aids environmental diagnosis.
The second large difference between sandstones
and limestones lies in their chemistry. Sandstones are
108 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones
composed largely of quartz (SiO2) sand, whilst lime-
stones are composed largely of the mineral calcite
(CaCO3). In the subsurface environment, silica is
chemically relatively inert, whereas calcite is much
more reactive. This means that diagenesis in sand-
stones is relatively less important. Primary intergra-
nular porosity may be preserved as it was when the
sand was first deposited. In limestones, however, pri-
mary intergranular porosity is often quickly infilled
by cement, even before the sediment has been buried.
In the subsurface though, limestones are more vul-
nerable to the effects of acid solutions which can
selectively leach out the rock and generate secondary
pores. These may just be where individual fossil shells
have leached out (Biomouldic porosity). These pores
may enlarge to cross-cut the fabric of the rock (vuggy
porosity), or even form caves, described by geologists
as cavernous porosity (cavernous pores are defined
as those that are large enough to contain a crouched
geologist, or for the drill string to drop by 1 m or
more). Fenestral porosity is a less common but sig-
nificant type of pore system found in intertidal
lagoonal muds. It forms from the buckling of laminae
or the trapping of gas bubbles in carbonate mud when
exposed to hot sunshine. It is characterized by thin,
horizontally elongated pores, thus giving good hori-
zontal and poor vertical permeability. The replace-
ment of limestone by dolomite (dolomitization) may
create intercrystalline porosity.
Through the creation of pore systems of diverse
shapes and sizes, diagenesis may completely destroy
the original depositional fabric of the sediment, a
feature unknown in sandstones whose diagenetic
overprint has little impact on the primary features.
These differences between limestones and sand-
stones will become clearer as this article unfolds.
Limestone Mineralogy, Grains, and
Rock Names
Limestone Mineralogy
Limestones are principally composed of calcium
carbonate in the form of calcite (CaCO3). They
Table 1 Summary of the minerals commonly associated with limestones
Mineral Formula Crystal system
Aragonite CaCO3 Orthorhombic
Calcite CaCO3 Hexagonal
Magnesite MgCO3 Hexagonal
Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2 Hexagonal
Ankerite Ca(MgFe)(CO3)2 Hexagonal
Siderite FeCO3 Hexagonal
may also contain several other carbonate minerals,
listed in Table 1, and several non-carbonate impur-
ities. There are two varieties of calcium carbonate
(CaCO3): ‘aragonite’, which has an orthorhombic
crystal system, and ‘calcite’, which has a hexagonal
crystal system. Aragonite is an important component
of carbonate mud and of many shells. It is, however,
relatively unstable in the subsurface, and soon goes
into solution, often generating mouldic porosity,
either at the surface or during shallow burial. It is
very rarely preserved in old and/or deeply buried
limestones. Calcite also occurs in many shells and
other carbonate grains. It is more stable than arago-
nite. ‘Dolomite’ (CaMg(CO3)2) is the third and most
important mineral associated with limestones (de-
scribed in detail in (see Sedimentary Rocks: Dolo-
mites)). It rarely forms on the Earth’s surface, but
commonly does in the subsurface. With increasing
abundance of dolomite, limestones grade, via dolo-
mitic limestones, into limey dolomites, and finally
dolomite rock. Geopedants restrict the name dolo-
mite to the mineral, and dolostone to the rock. Not
everyone is so particular. ‘Magnesite’, ‘ankerite’, and
‘siderite’ are rare constituents of limestones.
Limestone Grains and Matrix
Just like sandstones, limestones consist of framework
grains, matrix (syndepositional), cement (postdeposi-
tional), and, sometimes, pores. There are many types
of carbonate grain. They are briefly described here,
and are illustrated in Figure 1. Probably the most
common grain type in limestones is shell debris.
Indeed, many limestones are made up of nothing but
fossils, whole or fragmented. These are termed bio-
clastic or biogenic limestones. Because of their origin,
palaeoecology is an important tool in the diagnosis of
the depositional environment. Not only whole fossils
but even fragmented bioclasts may be identifiable,
and hence of diagnostic value. Some limestones are
composed of rounded grains termed ooids, or ooliths,
and the rock oolite (named from ‘oos’, the Greek for
egg, the rock having the appearance of the roe of a
fish). Internally, ooids show a concentric growth ring
structure around a nucleus of a quartz grain or shell
Occurrence
Some shells and mud, unstable during burial
Some shells and mud, relatively stable during burial
Rare surface mineral
Rarely at the surface, more common as a subsurface replacement
A rare cement
As ooliths and cement
 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones 109

Figure 1 Illustrations of carbonate grain types, rock types, and names set within the Dunham classification of limestones.
Boundstone: Colonial ‘Halysites’ from Wenlock (Silurian) reef, Welsh Marches. Mudstone: Chalk (Upper Cretaceous), Beer, Devon.
Wackestone: Rounded pellets and angular intraclasts in a micrite matrix, Marada Formation (Miocene), Jebel Zelten, Libya. Pack-
stone: Foraminifera in a modest micrite matrix (Oligocene), west of Marada Oasis, Libya. Grainstone: Ooids with quartz and shell
fragment nuclei. Blue is preserved primary intergranular porosity. Portland Limestone (Upper Jurassic), Dorset. Crystalline carbon-
ate: Dolomite with minor intercrystalline porosity (blue), Zechstein (Upper Permian), UK North Sea. Once upon a time, this was
probably a bryozoan reef. All illustrations from Selley RC (2000) Applied Sedimentology, 2nd edn. San Diego: Academic Press.

fragment. Ooids form in shallow, high-energy marine
environments with elevated temperatures and salin-
ity, where carbonate precipitates episodically around
an agitated nucleus. Larger sized concentric car-
bonate grains are known as pisoliths and oncolites;
these are algally coated clasts. Some limestones are
composed of structureless, bullet-shaped, sand-sized
grains of lime mud and comminuted shell fragments.
These grains are faecal pellets, the excreta of diverse
burrowing aquatic creatures. Bizarre as it may seem,
whole rock formations are composed of such mater-
ial. Faecal pellets are the characteristic grain type of
inner shelves, sheltered bays, and lagoons. Intraclasts
are irregular, generally platy-shaped, carbonate grains
110 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones
of various lengths and size. They are formed by the
penecontemporaneous erosion of lithified carbonate
sediment. Intraclasts are typically found in continen-
tal shelf and slope environments.
Between the framework grains briefly described
above, there may be a finer grained syndepositional
matrix. In sandstones, this is generally composed of
clay minerals. In limestones, the matrix is more usu-
ally composed of lime mud, termed micrite. Micrite is
sometimes aragonitic, sometimes calcitic. Micrite has
several origins. It forms when calcareous algae de-
compose to liberate skeletal aragonite needles into
the water. Waves and tidal currents, together with
shell-munching predators, also play a part in disag-
gregating structured shells into comminuted lime
mud. There is some evidence in modern warm shal-
low seas for the direct precipitation of aragonite
mud in seawater. Limestone is commonly cemented
by calcite, referred to as ‘spar’ or ‘sparite’ in this
context. Several other carbonate and evaporite
minerals precipitate out in limestone pore spaces as
postdepositional cement.
Limestone Classification and Nomenclature
There are several different classifications of carbon-
ate rocks. The one most widely used was proposed by
Dunham in 1962 (Figure 1) and is briefly described
below. ‘Boundstone’ is the term applied to limestone
formed from organic skeletal material that grew
bound together at the Earth’s surface: in other
words, reef rock. ‘Mudstone’ is composed of micrite
with less than 10% grains; ‘wackestone’ is composed
of micrite with over 10% grains. Both mudstone and
wackestone are mud supported. That is to say the
grains appear to ‘float’ within the micrite. In contrast,
‘packstone’ is grain supported, and the space be-
tween the grains is partly or completely filled with
micrite matrix. ‘Grainstone’ is grain supported with
negligible micrite matrix. The sequence mudstone–
wackestone–packstone–grainstone reflects increasing
depositional turbulence and energy, and is therefore
useful in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Dun-
ham’s rock names can be qualified by grain type. For
example, faecal wackestone, bioclastic packstone,
ooidal grainstone, and so forth. The last rock
name in Dunham’s classification is ‘crystalline car-
bonate’, which would normally include dolomite
and marble.
Limestone Depositional Environments
All carbonate sediment is precipitated by organic
processes, either directly, as animals and plants se-
crete lime skeletons, or indirectly, as biochemical
changes in water cause carbonate to precipitate as
individual crystals. Except in a few deep marine en-
vironments, all ecosystems are based on plants, and
all plants require sunlight to photosynthesize and
grow. Plants provide the food for higher life forms
to develop. Thus carbonate precipitation, caused or
aided by plants, occurs in shallow water, and most of
it takes place on the seafloor. Carbonate skeletal de-
velopment decreases with increasing water depth, as
darkness inhibits photosynthesis. Over time, there-
fore, a carbonate shelf will develop on a gently
sloping seafloor (Figure 2). If sea-level remains con-
stant, this shelf will gradually build out or prograde
into deeper water. In certain situations, this gently
sloping ramp may have an abrupt break in slope.
This may occur in one of two ways. A fault may
downthrow the seabed into deeper water. Rapid
deepening may also occur if sea-level drops, erodes a
sea cliff, and rises again, whereupon the rim will be
oversteepened by rapid carbonate growth on the crest
of the drowned sea cliff. These processes give rise to
two types of carbonate setting: the gently sloping
accretionary ramp, and the rimmed carbonate plat-
form (Figure 3). This figure also shows the grain types
and textures of the carbonate lithologies in these
settings, and elegantly illustrates how carbonate
rock type correlates with depositional environment.
Considered in more detail, the following range of
carbonate sediments may be found in sequence from
the deep basin across the shelf towards the land.
Basinal lime mud may form from the settling of or-
ganic detritus of plant and animal plankton that
drifted near the surface. In this manner, many lime
mudstones, including chalk, formed. These basinal
muds may be interbedded with shallow-water car-
bonate sediment that was transported downslope as
turbidity flows, submarine debris flows, and slides.
Such transported carbonates, referred to sometimes
as ‘re-deposited’ or ‘allodapic’ limestones, are par-
ticularly common on the steep flanks of rimmed
platforms and reefs. In warm, clear, shallow water,
organic reefs may form by the in situ growth of corals,
Figure 2 Diagram to show how carbonate sediment forms
optimally in a zone between deep water, where the seafloor is
too dark for photosynthesis to occur, and shallow water, where all
the nutrients from the open sea have been used up. If sea-level
remains constant, the carbonate factory will gradually accrete
seaward across the shelf into deeper water.
 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones 111

Figure 3 Cross-sections to illustrate the correlation between depositional environments and carbonate rock types (grains and
textures) for a rimmed carbonate platform (top) and a carbonate ramp (bottom). Reproduced with permission from Spring D and
Hansen OP (1998) The influence of platform morphology and sea level on a carbonate sequence: the Harash Formation, Eastern Sirte
Basin, Libya. In: McGregor DS, Moody RTJ, and Clark-Lowes DD (eds.). Special Publication of the Geological Society of London 132,
pp. 335–353. London: Geological Society of London.

bryozoa, algae, and many other sedentary biota. In in (see Sedimentary Environments: Carbonate Shore-
turbulent conditions, shoals of oolitic and skeletal lines and Shelves). In sheltered lagoons behind the
grainstone may form, as seen in the modern carbon- high-energy environments of reefs and shoals,
ate banks of the Bahamas, as described in more detail burrowing marine animals may excrete faecal pellets
112 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Limestones
to deposit thick formations of peloidal packstones and
wackestones. In arid climates, these sediments may, in
turn, pass into ‘sabkha’ (‘sabkha’ is Arabic for salt
marsh) where dolomite and evaporite minerals may
form. In humid climates, where terrigenous sediment
runs off from the land, the carbonate lagoons may
interfinger with siliciclastic sand and mud.
The depositional environments of carbonate shore-
lines and shelves in general, and reefs in particular,
are described in greater detail in (see Sedimentary
Environments: Carbonate Shorelines and Shelves;
Reefs (‘Build-Ups’)), respectively.
Limestone Diagenesis
As noted earlier, the minerals that form limestones are
far less stable in the subsurface than are those that
form sandstones. Recent carbonate sediment at the
Earth’s surface is composed of the two isomorphs of
calcium carbonate: aragonite and calcite. Recent lime
mud is largely aragonitic, but skeletal material is
composed of both varieties, which vary in importance
between different animal and plant groups.
The change of unconsolidated lime sediment into
limestone happens very quickly, and with negligible
burial. The ‘fossilized’ beer bottles and other anthro-
pogenic detritus found in modern ‘beach rock’ prove
this. These early cements are of both calcite and
aragonite. In skeletal sands, one of the first diagenetic
reactions is the dissolution of aragonite shells. This
generates biomoldic porosity.
During burial, aragonitic muds undergo a reorder-
ing of the crystal lattice to form calcite. This change is
concomitant with a volumetric increase of 8%, and a
corresponding loss of porosity. This is why most an-
cient lime mudstones, certainly those of pre-Mesozoic
age, are normally hard, tight, splintery rocks. By con-
trast, many Cretaceous and younger lime mudstones
are light, porous, and chalky. Chalk consists mainly
of the fossils of planktonic algae, termed the Cocco-
lithophoridae, together with their disaggregated skel-
etal plates, termed coccoliths, coccolith-rich faecal
pellets, calcispheres, and unicellular planktonic fora-
minifers. Coccoliths are not composed of unstable
aragonite, but of the stabler calcite. Thus, during
burial, these lime muds do not undergo expansive
diagenesis like aragonitic muds. They maintain their
chalky texture, being highly porous, but normally
impermeable unless fractured. Chalks are described
in greater detail in (see Sedimentary Rocks: Chalk).
Returning to the diagenesis of carbonate sands,
during shallow burial, early cementation may destroy
some porosity, but aragonite dissolution may enhance
it. With continued burial, calcite cement may infill
both biomolds and any remaining intergranular
porosity. There are, however, several other diagenetic
processes to which a cemented limestone may be
subjected.
Limestones may undergo recrystallization, during
which some or all of the primary fabric may be des-
troyed. Individual carbonate grains, generally bio-
clasts or ooids, may undergo pressure solution. This
is a process whereby dissolution occurs at grain con-
tacts due to overburden pressure. Concomitantly, the
dissolved mineral matter may be precipitated as
cement in adjacent pores. Additional evidence of dis-
solution is provided by stylolites. These are sutured
surfaces, generally subparallel to bedding, where ex-
tensive dissolution has left an insoluble residue of
clay, kerogen, and other matter along the suture.
Stylolites occur in both pure limestones and quartzose
sandstones.
Limestone diagenesis must not be thought of as a
‘one-way street’ that leads to the total loss of porosity
and permeability. Limestones may be flushed through
with acidic pore fluids, whose leaching properties
may generate secondary porosity and permeability.
The acidic fluids may come from adjacent compact-
ing clay beds, conveniently generating secondary por-
osity ahead of petroleum invasion. More usually,
however, secondary solution porosity is the result of
uplift and erosion, and the flushing of limestone by
acidic meteoric water (there is nothing new in acid
rain). Solution may form moldic and vuggy pores. It
may enlarge fractures and, in extreme cases, develop
karstic caverns with concomitant collapse breccias
(see Sedimentary Processes: Karst and Palaeokarst).
Many of the best carbonate petroleum reservoirs
occur where solution porosity has been developed
and preserved beneath unconformities. The best way
of preserving porosity in a limestone is for petroleum
invasion to occur and expel cementing connate fluids.
Renewed burial, without the benefit of petroleum
invasion, may, of course, result in total recementation
of the limestone as it makes its way to a completely
cemented and recrystallized rock, termed marble.
The last important diagenetic process to which
limestones are subjected is dolomitization, a process
of such complexity and importance that it merits an
article to itself (see Sedimentary Rocks: Dolomites).
Economic Importance of Limestones
Limestones are of great economic importance for
many reasons. First, limestones contain lime, an es-
sential ingredient for plant growth, and so limestone
quarries are ubiquitous adjacent to farmland with
lime-poor acid soil. Hard cemented limestones make
excellent building stone and aggregate. Porous and
permeable limestones, by contrast, serve as aquifers.

Limestone is used in the manufacture of cement and
as a flux in the smelting of iron. Limestones are
the host of several metallic minerals, including the
eponymous Mississippi Valley telethermal Pb–Zn sul-
phide ores described in (see Mineral Deposits and
Their Genesis). About 45% of the known petroleum
reserves in the world occur in carbonate reservoirs
(limestones and dolomites). Six main settings are rec-
ognized that preserve large volumes of porous and
permeable limestone which have the potential to
serve as petroleum reservoirs. These are: oolite grain-
stone shoals; reefs (often dolomitized); fore-reef
talus; grainstone shoals sealed up-dip by evaporites;
subunconformity traps, with extensive secondary
porosity; and chalk, uplifted and fractured over salt
diapirs. Small wonder, then, that limestones, their
depositional environments, and diagenesis have been
so intensively studied by geologists.
See Also
Building Stone. Diagenesis, Overview. Mineral De-
posits and Their Genesis. Minerals: Carbonates. Sedi-
mentary Environments: Carbonate Shorelines and
Shelves; Reefs (‘Build-Ups’). Sedimentary Processes:
Karst and Palaeokarst. Sedimentary Rocks: Mineralogy
and Classification; Chalk; Dolomites.
Oceanic Manganese Deposits
D S Cronan, Imperial College London, London, UK
ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Manganese nodules and encrustations (crusts) to-
gether with micronodules are ferromanganese oxide
deposits which contain variable amounts of other
elements (Table 1). They occur throughout the
oceans, although the economically interesting var-
ieties have a much more restricted distribution. Man-
ganese nodules are spherical to oblate in shape and
range in size from less than 1 cm in diameter up to
10 cm or more. Most accrete around a nucleus of
some sort, usually a volcanic fragment but sometimes
biological remains. Crusts are usually tabular.
The deposits were first described in detail in the
Challenger Reports. This work was co-authored by
J. Murray and A. Renard, who between them initiated
the first great ferromanganese oxide controversy.
Murray believed the deposits to have been formed by
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS/Oceanic Manganese Deposits 113
Further Reading
Dunham RJ (1962) Classification of carbonate rocks
according to depositional texture. In: Ham WE (ed.) Clas-
sification of Carbonate Rocks, American Association of
Petroleum Geologists. Tulsa. Ok: pp. 108–121.
Jordan CF and Wilson JL (1994) Carbonate reservoir rocks.
Memoir of the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists No. 60.
Leeder MR (1999) Sedimentology and Sedimentary Basins:
From Turbulence to Tectonics. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
Lucia FJ (1999) Carbonate Reservoir Characterization.
Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Reading HG (ed.) (1996) Sedimentary Environments,
Processes, Facies and Stratigraphy, 3rd edn. Oxford:
Blackwell Science.
Selley RC (1996) Ancient Sedimentary Environments and
Their Subsurface Diagnosis, 4th edn. London: Chapman
& Hall.
Selley RC (2000) Applied Sedimentology, 2nd edn. San
Diego: Academic Press.
Spring D and Hansen OP (1998) The influence of platform
morphology and sea level on a carbonate sequence:
the Harash Formation, Eastern Sirt Basin, Libya. In:
McGregor DS, Moody RTJ, and Clark-Lowes DD (eds.)
Special Publication of the Geological Society of London
132, pp. 335–353. London: Geological Society of London.
Tucker ME and Wright VP (1990) Carbonate Sedimentol-
ogy. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.
submarine volcanic processes whereas Renard be-
lieved that they had precipitated from continental run-
off products in seawater. This controversy remained
unresolved until it was realized that they could obtain
their metals from either or both sources. The evidence
for this included the finding of abundant nodules in
the Baltic Sea where there are no volcanic influences,
and the finding of rapidly grown ferromanganese
oxide crusts associated with submarine hydrothermal
activity of volcanic origin on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Subsequently, a third source of metals to the de-
posits was discovered, diagenetic remobilization
from underlying sediments. Thus, marine ferroman-
ganese oxides can be represented on a triangular dia-
gram (Figure 1), the corners being occupied by
hydrothermal (volcanically derived), hydrogenous
(seawater derived), and diagenetic (sediment interstitial
water derived) constituents.
There appears to be a continuous compositional
transition between hydrogenous and diagenetic de-
posits, all of which are formed relatively slowly
at normal deep seafloor temperatures. By contrast,