Combination Distribution Characteristics and Corresponding Material Sources of Surface Clay Minerals in Beibu Gulf, China

Abstract

Clay minerals are the main ingredients of the ocean floor sediments, which completely record a lot of geological information and have important meanings in the studies of source material, sedimentary environment, global climate change, sea-level fluctuation and ocean currents evolution. This paper studies composition and combination distribution characteristics of 312 surface clay mineral samples and makes the mineral mapping in Beibu gulf. The results show that the components of clay minerals in Beibu gulf are mainly mixed layer of illite and montmorillonite, kaolinite, chlorite and illite and each average content are 49.95%, 24.69%, 14.07% and 11.28%, respectively. According to combination and content of the clay minerals, the distribution areas of clay minerals in Beibu gulf can be divided into four divisions of 1, 2, 3 and 4 divisions. The differences of 4 divisions are closely related with the source area parent rocks and circulation.