Glauconite

(properties, environment
formation and, geochemical
significance)
.
“Overview from
different papers”

Prepared by: Yutuc,Allen Marvin H. (June 6, 2020)

 Mineral Information
Optical Properties A B
• Chemical formula: s (K,Na)
• Color
(Fe3+ (PPL): varieties of green, yellow
,Al,Mg)2(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2
green
•• Crystal system: Monoclinic
Color (XPL): 2nd order blue-green, green,
yellow green. But appears to be masked C D
• Physical
Form: pellets Properties
or grains. Euhedral form of
• the mineral
Cleavage: is perfect
{001} rare (even absent). The
• grains blue
Color: are green,
often Green,
casts of foraminiferal
Yellow green.
• tests
Density: 2.4 - 2.95
•• Relief: moderate,
Diaphaneity: n > balsam
translucent - subopaque E F
•• Birefringence:
Habit: micaceousδ = 0.020 - 0.032
- Platy texture with
• Extinction:plates,
"flexible" parallel to cleavage,
mostly 20-30
pellets/granules
•• Alteration:2 Glauconite is sometimes
Hardness:
• altered to limonite.
Luminescence: non-fluorescent
•• Distinguishing
Luster: Feature: Glauconite much
earthy (Dull)
(A) Glauconite in Kent, England (B) Glauconite from
Argentina in National Museum of Chicago, (C)
• resembles chamosite,
Magnetism: nonmagnetic but the latter has Glauconite in pellet form (D) Calcite-Glauconite beds
in Hoover Point Lookout, Burnet Co., Texas, USA (E)
• an oolitic
Streak: structure
light green lacking in glauconite. Glauconite under PPL (marked by red arrow) (F)
Glauconite under XPL (both are 10x magnification
and sampled in Atamir Formation, Iran)
 Depositional Environment
A B
• Area
At where reworked level, glauconite is an
the broadest
glauconites
authigenic found
mineral and forms exclusively
in marine settings. It is commonly
associated with low-oxygen conditions.
C D
• Glauconite is restricted to sedimentary Area where glauconites
rocks and is mostly found in marine rarely formed

✔
sediments, although very rarely also in
lacustrine and various alluvial deposits in E F
which case it could well have been
transported (i.e. detrital or allogenic).
Area where
• Middle to outer shelfglauconites
depths appear to be
optimal, includingoptimally
over the shelf margin
formed Photomicrographs of six different bulk sand thin
sections of sediments from central Chatham Rise. (A)
down to about 500 m, but apparently carbonate and glauconite grains, (B) Brachiopod
glauconite can rarely form as deep as detritus and glauconite pellets, (C) echinoderm
fragment, (D) echinoderm fragment and glauconite
about 2000 m pellets, (E) planktic foraminifera under cross-
(Upper Figure) Various environments of allochthonus (transported or reworked) glaucony polarizedreported
light, from
(F) the literature. and
planktonic Authochthonous
benthic
(precipitating in situ) glaucony precipitates on the shelf break in marine settings (grey stipple) by Amorosi,
foraminifera 1997
Glauconite (pH,Eh and temperature)
• Glauconite typically forms in a pH that is slightly alkaline,
between about 7 and 8, is typical of seawater
• Most authors recognized that the Eh for glauconite to actively
form the environment must be slightly reducing (Eh ≤0).
• The seawater temperature typically associated with glauconite
formation ranges from 15-20°C, but it can form at both colder
and warmer temperatures. It is rare or absent in cold polar and
the warmest tropical regions.
 Glauconite (Indicator)
• Glauconite formation takes place in
similar low-sedimentation-rate open-
marine environments with limited
terrigenous input that are characteristic
of phosphorite deposition.

• Glauconite is considered a diagnostic

mineral indicative of continental shelf
marine depositional environments with
slow rates of accumulation.

• Glauconite forms under reducing

conditions in sediments and such
deposits are commonly found in
nearshore sands and open seas
(Right image) Glauconitization model by Baldermann,A. et.al (2013). (1) Microbial oxidation of organic
matter (OM) generates locally occurring reducing and acidic conditions in the micro-environment of
glauconitization such as in foraminifera tests and the surrounding sediment. These conditions enhance
(silicate) mineral dissolution and the formation of cation-organic aquo-complexes. (2) As soon as the
OM is consumed, oxidation of the organic complexes and of Fe2+ occurs. Subsequently, Fe-smectite
formation takes place which is promoted by microbial activity and cation supply from the interstitial
solution, while dissolution of skeletal calcite buffers the pH. (3) The Fe-smectite-to-glauconite reaction is
controlled by the composition of the bulk interstitial solution and requires ~10 My to complete.
 Glauconite’s geochemical significance
Negative Correlation

Arenaceous host rock

Positive Correlation

(Upper Figure) Glauconite types and structure based mainly on potassium content (after Odin & Matter,1981; Udgata, 2007).

Carbonate host rock

(Upper Figure). Plot of K2O and Al2O3 versus Fe2O3; (Upper Figure). Chondrite-normalized REE plots; REE-rich
Symbols apply for both plots. Closed and open symbols refer group (upper) , REE-poor group (lower); normalizing values
to the heavy and light glauconites, respectively. are after Nakamura (1974).
 References
• Amorosi, A. (1997). Detecting compositional, spatial, and temporal attributes of glaucony: a tool for provenance research.
Sedimentary Geology, 109(1-2):135{153.
• Baldermann, Andre & Dietzel, Martin & Mavromatis, Vasileios & Mittermayr, Florian & Warr, Laurence & Wemmer, Klaus.
(2017). The role of Fe on the formation and diagenesis of interstratified glauconite-smectite and illite-smectite: A case study
of Upper Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates. Chemical Geology. 453. 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.02.008.
• Bansal, Udita & Banerjee, Santanu & Ruidas, Dhiren & Pande, Kanchan. (2017). Origin and geochemical characterization of
the glauconites in the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation, Narmada Basin, central India. Journal of Palaeogeography. 7.
10.1016/j.jop.2017.12.001.
• Burst, J.F. (1958). Mineral heterogeneity in “glauconite” pellets. The American Mineralogist, 43, 481-497.
• Fairbridge, R.W. (1967). Phases of diagenesis and authigenesis in sediments. In G. Larsen & G.V. Chilingar (Eds.), Diagenesis in
Sediments (pp. 19-89). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Harding, S. C., Nash, B. P., Petersen, E. U., Ekdale, A. A., Bradbury, C. D., & Dyar, M. D. (2014). Mineralogy and
Geochemistry of the Main Glauconite Bed in the Middle Eocene of Texas: Paleoenvironmental Implications for the Verdine
Facies. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e87656
• Hower, J. (1961). Some factors concerning the nature and origin of glauconite. The American Mineralogist, 46, 313-334.
• Huggett, Jennifer & Gale, Andy & McCarty, D.. (2010). Petrology and palaeoenvironmental significance of authigenic iron-
rich clays, carbonates and apatite in the Claiborne Group, Middle Eocene, NE Texas. Sedimentary Geology - SEDIMENT GEOL.
228. 119-139. 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.04.005.
• Jarrar, Ghaleb & Amireh, Belal & Zachmann, Dieter. (2000). The major, trace and rare earth element geochemistry of
glauconites from the early Cretaceous Kurnub Group of Jordan. Geochemical journal GJ. 34. 207-222.
10.2343/geochemj.34.207.
• McConchie, D.M. (1978). Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary Glauconite in the South Island of New Zealand (Unpublished
master’s thesis). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
• McRae, S.G. (1972). Glauconite. Earth-Science Reviews, 8, 397-440
• Porrenga, D.H. (1967). Glauconite and chamosite as depth indicators in the marine environment. Marine Geology, 5, 495-
501.