Silicification and dolomitization of anhydrite nodules in argillaceous terrestrial deposits: an example of meteoric-dominated diagenesis from the Triassic of central Spain

Abstract

Cauliflower-shaped nodules are widespread in a single red mudstone bed in the Buntsandstein (Triassic) facies of the Iberian Range. They consist mostly of quartz, dolomite and calcite, but other minerals, such as barite, kaolinite and iron oxyhydroxides, are also present. The nodules are spherical, ovoid or elongate in shape and range from 1 to 8 cm across. The surface of the nodules is irregular, and some show a pedogenic coating of microspar. The sedimentological and petrographic data suggest that the initial anhydrite nodules formed through a progressive increase in the porewater concentration of Ca2+ and SO4 2– in a vadose environment, occasionally under the influence of pedogenic processes. Partial replacement of the anhydrite by megaquartz occurred under more dilute conditions in the same type of setting, as indicated by the presence of organic filaments on the quartz crystal surfaces. In type A nodules, the dissolution of the innermost anhydrite was complete, and different types of quartz cement filled the porosity. Fracturing and meteoric cementation by calcite and minor amounts of kaolinite were the latest processes affecting these nodules. In type B nodules, the dissolution of the anhydrite was incomplete, inhibiting quartz cementation and enabling later dolomitization of the anhydrite. Dolomitization appears to have been driven by sulphate reduction, as indicated by the presence of bacterial bodies within the dolomite crystals. Dedolomitization and precipitation of barite, kaolinite and calcite spar cements occurred later under the influence of meteoric solutions. The nodules may mark the former locations of the water table and provide evidence for an episode of highly evaporitic conditions throughout wide areas of the basin. Their occurrence reveals not only a complex diagenetic history but is also indicative of palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic conditions.