--> Clay Fabric Development in California Margin Sea Floor Mud, by M. W. Lambert, R. M. Bennett, and M. Kastner; #90986 (1994).

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Abstract: Clay Fabric Development in California Margin Sea Floor Mud

Michael W. Lambert, Richard M. Bennett, Miriam Kastner

The sea floor mud off Cape Mendocino in northern California consists of clay particle aggregates (or "crumbs") that are tenths of millimeters long, dispersed in a clay-silt matrix. Clay particle orientation within the aggregates is generally random at the sediment-water interface, and development of oriented clay fabric during the early stages of burial and dewatering is controlled by the initial matrix porosity and fabric of the mud. Aggregates in sea floor mud with relatively low (average 64%) porosity at the sediment-water interface retain characteristically unoriented clay fabric after burial to a depth of 15 cm. However, clay particle domains within aggregates in mud with high (average 80%) porosity at the sediment-water interface begin to develop preferred clay-fabric orientatio after burial to a depth of 2 cm. Low initial porosity mud has a higher silt content, lower total organic carbon (TOC) content, and more terrestrially derived organic material than does the high initial porosity mud, and these factors may influence the behavior of the aggregates. The development of oriented clay fabric in the observed California margin sea floor mud samples appears to begin in the very earliest stages of burial and dewatering.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994