Influence of palaeoclimate and the greenhouse effect on Hettangian clay mineral assemblages (Holy Cross Mts. area, Polish Basin)

Authors

  • Paweł Brański Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute, Rakowiecka 4, PL-00-975 Warszawa, Poland

Keywords:

Hettangian, Holy Cross Mts. margin, clay mineral assemblages, palaeoclimate, greenhouse effect

Abstract

Hettangian clay mineral assemblages from the Holy Cross Mts. margin (southeastern part of the epicontinental Polish Basin) were mostly controlled by climatic conditions and weathering regime. Hettangian claystones and mudstones were deposited in continental and marine-margin palaeoenvironments in a warm climate, mostly with year-round humidity. The pronounced, long-term greenhouse conditions intensified chemical weathering in the hinterland. Reworking and redeposition of ancient sediments caused by tectonics and/or by sea-level changes and early diagenesis may have modified the clay mineral content in the earliest Hettangian. Burial diagenesis and telodiagenesis changed the clay mineral composition only locally. 

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Published

2012-11-14

Issue

Vol. 53 No. 3 (2009)

Section

Short communication

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