Mineral and chemical composition of Karak mudstone, Kohat Plateau, Pakistan: Implications for smectite-illitization and provenance

The Karak mudstone interbedded in an Eocene evaporite sequence, is dominated by R-1 ordered illite-smectite with a 20 to 30% expandable component. Minor phases include kaolinite, chlorite, illite/muscovite, plagioclase, potash feldspar, quartz, dolomite and pyrite. The present illite-smectite was probably originally smectite or highly expandable illite-smectite which underwent conversion to illite-smectite with a low expandable component in a comparatively low-temperature (ca. 100°C) closed-system sedimentary basinal diagenetic environment at a depth of ca. 5 km. Al³⁺ and K⁺ necessary for the conversion reaction were provided through the breakdown of potash feldspar. Burial under a 5 km thick pile of sediments produced some of the observed structures. Whole-rock chemistry presented here suggests that the mudstone formed by severe weathering of acidic source rocks. The influx of freshwater probably flushed out Ba, Rb, Ca and Mn from the restricted basin. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.