Genetic information of clay minerals of sediments of the Uzkol Lake (Republic of Khakasia)

Khrushcheva M. O., Tishin P. A., Nebera T. S., Chernyshov A. I., Arkhipov A. L.

Zapiski RMO (Proceedings of the Russian Mineralogical Society). 2020. V. 149. N 5. P. 99-111

https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869605520050032

Language: Russian

Abstract

In this work, the mineralogy of the clay components of the salt lakes of the South Minusinsk depression is examined in detail using the example of Uskol Lake sediments. The study of clay minerals was carried out in order to identify climatic and hydrochemical features of the sedimentation. Based on the modeling of diffraction profiles of clay minerals using the Pearson VII function, it was found that clay minerals are represented by calcium-magnesium and sodium varieties of montmorillonite and illite. Variations in the clay phase modes are observed depending on the depth of selection. There is a tendency towards an increase in illite and calcium-magnesium montmorillonite modes down the section, which is associated with an increase in the concentration of K⁺ and Mg²⁺ in sediments. According to the established mineral association of clay components, it can be assumed that sedimentation over the past 500 years has occurred in a cryoarid climate.

Keywords: clay minerals, Na-montmorillonite, mixed-layer formations, X-ray phase analysis, Uskol lake