780
ZEOLITES IN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
Table Z1 Main Compositional Eeatures of Zeolites in Sedimentary Rocks"
Zeolite
HjO"
Dominant cations
Clinoptilolite
Mordenite
Heulandite
Erionite
Chabazite
Phillipsite
Analcime
Laumontite
Wairakite
Natrolite
4.0-5.1
4.3-5.3
2.9-4.0
3.0-3.6
1.7-3.8
1.3-3.4
1.7-2.9
2.0
2.0
1.5
3.5-4.0
3.0-3.5
2.5-3.1
3.0-3.5
2.7-4.1
1.7-3.3
1.0-1.3
2.0
1.0
1.0
K>Na
Na>K
Ca, Na
Na, K
Ca, Na
K, Na, Ca
Na
Ca
Ca
Na
° Compositional data are modified after lijima, 1988.
Number of water molecules per aluminum atom.
Zeolites have formed widely in deep-sea sediments at
temperatures of <20°C. Phillipsite and clinoptilolite are the
principal zeolites, and their average total amount has been
estimated as 3.5 percent of deep-sea sediments. Phillipsite is
found at or near the sediment-water interface and is most
common a depths of
150
m, whereas clinoptilolite usually occurs
at greater depths. This feature may reflect a dissolution-
precipitation relation between phillipsite and clinoptilolite.
Zeolites have been widely formed at low temperatures in
vitric tephra deposits as a result of hydrolysis in which glass
reacts first to form a clay mineral, generally smectite, that
raises the pH and activities of Na*, K'*', and SiO2 into a zeolite
stability field, where zeolite is formed by interaction of glass
and pore fluid. In closed-system alteration, reactions proceed
to completion without substantial ionic diffusion or inter-
change of pore fluid from outside the reacting system. In open-
system alteration, fluids moving through the tephra deposits
are changed progressively by the same water-rock reactions as
in closed systems. Large, relatively pure concentrations of
zeolite have been formed by open-system alteration of silicic
tephra deposits.
Burialdiagenesiscomprisesthezeolitesandassociated minerals
formed on a regional scale in thick accumulations of sedimentary
rock.Theverticalzonationofzeolitesprimarilyreflectstheincrease
in temperature with depth. Most reported examples are in the
Circum-Pacific area, and the most instructive are voicaniciastic
strata in the Green Tuff region of Japan, where zeolites are being
formed at known temperatures. Four principal zones have been
recognized: I, fresh glass; II, clinoptilolite-mordenite; III, ana-
lcime;
and
IV,
albite(Iijima,
1988).
The upper limit ofzone II
is41-
55°C,
for zone III, 84-91°C, and zone IV, 120-124°C. Tempera-
turelimitsareloweredsomewhatbysalineandalkalineporefluids.
Zeolites are common in active thermal areas with steep
geothermal gradients. Zeolites and associated minerals are
zoned according to temperature, but temperature limits differ
from those of the same zeolites in burial diagenesis. Mordenite
in the Wairakei geothermal area, for example, forms at 150-
230°C compared to 41-55°C for burial diagenesis in Japan.
Mordenite and wairakite are among the zeolites that are more
common as hydrothermal minerals than in burial diagenesis.
Current controversy
Probably the greatest controversy regarding zeolites in
sedimentary rocks is the temperature at which zeolites were
formed in subaerial tephra deposits known or inferred to have
been deposited at elevated temperatures. A few examples are:
(1) tephra deposits of Monte Nuovo, near Naples, Italy, which
were erupted in 1538
AD;
(2) tephra deposits of Vesuvius that
buried Ercolano (Herculaneum) in 79 AD; and (3) the
Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) of Italy, which is a voluminous
deposit erupted 12,000yr
BP
(de' Gennaro
etal.,
1995). Some
studies have concluded that the zeolites were formed at elevated
temperatures during cooling of the deposits. Other studies of
the same deposits consider the zeolites to be the product of
open-system alteration at low temperature. Hydrothermal
alteration has also been proposed for some of" the larger
zeolitic tephra deposits including the NYT (Hall, 2000).
Hydrothermal fluid of the NYT is attributed to a shallow
magma body beneath the caldera formed during eruption.
Richard L. Hay
Bibliography
Coombs, D.S., 1954. The nature and alteration of some Triassic
sediments from Southland, New Zealand.
Transactions
ofthe Royal
Society of New
Zealand,
82: 65-103.
de'
Gennaro, M., Adabbo, M., and Langella, A., 1995. Hypothesis on
the genesis of zeolites in some European voicaniciastic deposits. In
Ming, D.W., and Mumpton, F.A. (eds.). Natural Zeolites '93:
Occurrence, Properties, Use. New York: International Committee
on Natural Zeolites, Brockport, pp. 51-67.
Hall, A., 2000. Large eruptions and large zeolite deposits. In Colella,
C, and Mumpton, F.A. (eds.). Natural Zeolites for the Third Millen-
ium.
Naples, Italy, De Frede Editore, pp. 161-175.
Hay, R.L., 1966. Zeolites and Zeolitic Reactions in Sedimentary Rocks.
Geological Society of America Special Paper 85.
lijima. A., 1988. Diagenetic transformation of minerals as exemplified
by zeolites and silica minerals. In Chilingarian, G.V., and
Wolf,
K.H. (eds.), Diagenesis II, Developments in Sedimentology. Amster-
dam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp.
147-211.
Sheppard, R.A., and Gude, A.J., 3rd., 1968. Distribution and genesis of
authigenic silicate minerals in tuffs of Pleistocene Lake Tecopa, Inyo
County, California. US Geologieal Survey Professional
Paper
597.
Taylor, M.W., and Surdam, R.C, 1981. Zeolite reactions in the
tuffaceous sediments at Teels Marsh, Nevada. Clays and Ctay
Minerats, 29: 145-174.
Cross-references
Authigenesis
Desert Sedimentary Environments
Diagenesis
Oceanic Sediments
Sabkha, Salt Flat, Salina
Sedimentologists