Mineralogy of Deep-Sea Sediments Along the Murray Fracture Zone

Abstract

Semiquantitative X-ray diffraction mineralogical studies show that deep-sea brown clays from 23 cores and a long core from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 39 along the Murray Fracture Zone and in the vicinity of Necker ridge consist of the minerals quartz, plagioclase, mica, chlorite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, phillipsite, and goethite, and minor amounts of dolomite, aragonite, calcite, barite, and augite. According to mineral assemblages, five suites are recognized-eolian, detrital, authigenic, biogenic, and hydrothermal.