The impact of burial diagenesis on soil-formed minerals in paleosols using stable isotopes of phyllosilicates and carbonate clumped isotopes

Chemical Geology
By: , and 

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Abstract

To understand the effects of burial diagenesis on the stable isotope geochemistry of soil-formed clay and carbonate minerals in paleosols, samples were collected from seven cores, spanning middle- to upper-Pennsylvanian strata of the Illinois Basin, with varied maximum burial depths of 1–3 km. Mixed-layer illite-smectite and kaolinite mixtures give δ2H and δ18O values of −83 ‰ to −36 ‰ and 11.9 ‰ to 21.1 ‰ (VSMOW), respectively. After carbonates were screened petrographically for diagenetic textures using transmitted light and cathodoluminescence, measured clumped isotope Δ47 values range from 0.504 to 0.563 ‰ (I-CDES). Resulting mineral formation temperatures for phyllosilicate mineral mixtures are 28 to 66 °C (mean = 47 °C), whereas T(Δ47) estimates for calcites are 36 to 61 °C (mean = 45 °C). Calculated δ18Owater values from which phyllosilicate minerals and calcites precipitated under isotopic equilibrium ranges from −7.1 to −1.2 ‰ and − 1.4 to +4.9 ‰, respectively. Closed and open-system phyllosilicate-fluid exchange modeling indicates that phyllosilicate alteration occurred in the presence of a low temperature brine or meteoric water and is interpreted to occur in a layer-by-layer illitization transformation. Due to the lack of diagenetic textures and positively correlated T(Δ47) and δ18Owater, calcites are interpreted to have undergone solid-state bond reordering. Despite low to moderate temperatures (<125 °C) and varying depths of shallow burial (1–3 km), solid-state transformation of phyllosilicates and calcites indicates paleosols had prolonged exposure to burial conditions which has implications for the use of paleosol minerals for paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title The impact of burial diagenesis on soil-formed minerals in paleosols using stable isotopes of phyllosilicates and carbonate clumped isotopes
Series title Chemical Geology
DOI 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2025.122941
Volume 692
Year Published 2025
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Contributing office(s) Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
Description 122941, 17 p.
Country United States
State Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky
Other Geospatial Illinois Basin
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