Clay mineralogy of the first and second members of the Nenjiang Formation, Songliao Basin: Implications for paleoenvironment in the Late Cretaceous

The first and second members of the Nenjiang Formation (K-2 n (1+2)) in the Songliao Basin, northeast China, are an interval of dark-colored mudstone. Paleoenvironmental studies of these strata are useful for understanding the terrestrial environment under a greenhouse climate and hydrocarbon accumulation in lake basins. In this study, clay mineralogy of the K-2 n (1+2) from four borehole or outcrop sections is investigated to understand terrestrial paleoenvironment during the depositional period in the Late Cretaceous. In the mudstone samples, smectite and illite are the predominant clay minerals, and were derived from weathering of parent rocks in a temperate, sub-humid to sub-arid climate; kaolinite and chlorite are minor clay species. The difference in the clay-mineral assemblages between the eastern and western margins of the basin was primarily controlled by provenance lithology, and the high smectite content in the western basin resulted from alteration of volcanic rocks exposed in the Greater Xing'an Range area. The increasing illite content and ratio of illite/smectite percentages in the upper part of the first member of the Nenjiang Formation indicate paleoenvironmental change. This temporal change in the clay-mineral composition was primarily caused by a regionally cooler and drier paleoclimate, consistent with previous paleoenvironmental reconstructions.