Early kaolinization of detrital Weald facies in the Galve Sub-basin (Central Iberian Chain, north-east Spain) and its relationship to palaeoclimate

A set of samples from the Camarillas Formation (Barremian, Weald facies) in the Galve Sub-basin (Central Iberian Chain, north-east Spain) was studied to determine the origin of the abundant kaolinitic clays and their relationship to the sedimentary environment, palaeoclimate and diagenetic processes. The samples were examined by X-ray diffraction and scanning and transmission electron microscopy, with special emphasis on clay-mineral characterization. The analysed materials are a mixture of detrital (quartz, micas, and K-feldspars) and authigenic phases (kaolinite, Fe-oxides, gibbsite, dickite, and calcite). Therefore, the mineralogy of the rocks reflects the source area, the sedimentary conditions, and the diagenetic evolution. The most abundant authigenic phases are kaolinites. The combination of XRD and electron microscopy shows that the kaolinites are well crystallized and have as high a degree of ordering as those formed by weathering in palaeosols; this clay formed the rock matrix, intergrowths with muscovite, and vermicular booklets that replaced detrital silicates as a consequence of intense dissolution processes. The diagenetic processes have recrystallized kaolinites in the sandstones, producing larger crystallinity indices and dickite. In contrast, kaolinites from the claystones and siltstones probably reflect formation by weathering. The kaolinitization process described, associated with the crystallization of gibbsite and iron oxides, is in agreement with the relatively warm and humid conditions described for the Iberian Range basin in the early Barremian.