AbstractX-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of a pore-lining diagenetic chlorite (14 Å) from a reservoir sandstone, offshore Norway, show broad odd-order and sharp even-order basal reflections indicating that it contains 7 Å layers. Using NEWMOD, simulated XRD patterns with 15% 7 Å serpentine layers and a maximum crystallite thickness of 30 layers match the natural mineral well. Microprobe analyses of the 7 Å-14 Å mineral indicate that it is Fe-rich and aluminous suggesting that it is interstratified berthierine-chamosite. Apparent octahedral vacancies, however, suggest a significant dioctahedral component, and an alternative interpretation is interstratified kaolinite-chlorite. Indeed, chemical analyses of the mineral suggest a mixture of chlorite with 15% kaolinite, precisely the proportion of 7 Å layers indicated by XRD. Two other examples from the literature, previously identified as diagenetic chlorite, are probably also 7 Å-14 Å interstratified minerals, and the proportion of 7 Å layers indicated by XRD is also correlated with their structural formulae, if the 7 Å layers are, in fact, kaolinitic. This type of interstratification could explain why Fe-rich diagenetic chlorites appear to be compositionally distinct from metamorphic chlorites. The structure and chemistry of the Norwegian chlorite tend to support the idea that pore-lining chlorites form early in the diagenetic history, inhibiting the precipitation of later diagenetic minerals, and hence preserving abnormally high porosity at greater depths.
On the finiteness of the number of elliptic fields with given degrees of S-units and periodic expansion of √f
