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Clay Mineralogy of the Willcox Playa and Its Drainage Basin, Cochise County, Arizona

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Clay Mineralogy of the Willcox Playa and Its Drainage Basin, Cochise County, Arizona Clay mineralogy of the Willcox Playa and its drainage basin, Cochise County, Arizona Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Pipkin, Bernard W. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 08:05:33 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565620 CLAY MINERALOGY OF THE WILLCOX PLAYA AND ITS DRAINAGE BASIN, COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA Bernard W/ Pipkin A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1964 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Bernard W. Pipkin entitled MClay Mineralogy of the Willcox Playa and its Drainage Basin, Cochise County, Arizona'* be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________ ss e/tat ion Director DateFa7^ / After inspection of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* ♦This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examina­ tion. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final ex­ amination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re­ production of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: AC KNOWLEDGME NTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Dr. Joseph F. Schreiber, J r., who directed this study and provided the core material and many soil samples for analysis. Professor Richard Sloane generously took the electron micrographs and aided the writer in their interpretation. Dr. Joseph F. Schreiber, Jr., Dr. John W. Anthony, Dr. Spencer Titley, and Professor Richard Sloane critically read the manuscript and greatly aided in its presentation. Dr. W. H. Bradley of the University of Texas provided assistance in the quanti­ tative aspects of clay-mineral determinations, and Dr. Thomas Bates of the Pennsylvania State University offered helpful suggestions on in­ terpreting electron micrographs. To the foregoing individuals, and to the many graduate students and faculty members who aided the writer, I express my sincere gratitude. However, the writer takes full re­ sponsibility for all interpretations and conclusions contained within this paper. A portion of this work was done while the author was a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellow at the University. Further financial aid was provided through the College of Mines B. S. Butler Scholarship and through National Science Foundation Research Grant G-23746. iii Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Faye, for her patience, understanding, and encouragement during the course of this research. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES....................... xi ABSTRACT............................................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 1 Location Climate and Vegetation ........ Purpose of the Investigation .. Scope of the Investigation......... Coring and Sampling Procedure REGIONAL GEOLOGY..................... Physiographic Setting ............... Stratigraphy.................................. General ................................ Igneous rocks ..................... Metamorphic rocks ........... CO CO OO 00 - J - ] tfr, GO H* M Sedimentary rocks .................. 11 Basin f i l l .................................................................................. 11 METHOD OF STUDY___ .’..................................................................... 13 Separation Technique .................................................................... 13 Core samples ............................. 13 Soil s a m p le s ............................................ 16 Preparation for X-Ray A n aly sis................................................. 18 Oriented aggregates ............................................................. 18 Calcium-ion saturation ..................................... 20 Ethylene glycol adsorption................................................... 21 v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued Page Therm al tre a tm e n t........................... 22 Instrumentation................................... 24 CLAY MINERALS ...................................................... 28 General Statement .................. 28 Illite ........................................................ 31 Montmorillonite 35 Vermiculite......................................................... ; ............................ 41 Kaolin M inerals .................................................... 45 Kao Un ite............................................................ 45 H alloysite.................................................................................... 49 Chlorite ......................................................................... 51 Interstratified M inerals .................................................................... 53 Semi-Quantitative Analysis .'. ......................................................... 58 Chemical Composition by X-Ray Analysis ............................... 64 MINERALS OF THE WILLCOX PLAYA................................................. 69 Core M a te ria l......................................................... 69 H lite............................................................ 69 * Montmorillonite .* .... .......................................... 73 Vermiculite ........................................................ 77 Chlorite ......................................................................................... 78 Kao Unite................................................................. 78 Mixed-layer m inerals .............. 79 Analcime..;............................. 80 C alcite............................................................................................. 85 Q u a rtz ........................................................................................... 86 F e l d s p a r . ......................................................................... 87 Heavy m inerals ................. ; ....................................... ............* 87 M in eralo id ....................................................... 89 Electron M icro g rap h s................................................................. 90 Method ................................................................. 90 D isc u ssio n ...................................................... 90 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued Page Unknown m in e ra l...................................................................... 94 Playa S u rface.............................................. 95 Soils and Alluvial Samples ........................... ............................... 96 General .......................................... 96 M ineralo g y.................. 96 ORIGIN OF PLAYA SEDIMENTS....................... 102 Detrital Minerals ....................... ............................................. .. 102 Authigenic Minerals ................................... 104 A nalcim e.............. 104 Natural occurrences ............................................ 105 S ynthesis.................. 110 Origin ......................... I l l .Calcite ................................ 119 Evaporites ...1...........'.......................................................... 120 GEOLOGIC SIGNIFICANCE................................... 122 Climatic Episodes.................. 122 Diagenesis .................. 128 . Definition ............................... 128 Diagenesis of clay minerals .......................... 130 Willcox Playa sediments ............................................ .......... 132 Paragenesis .............. 134 Mineral Facies .............. 135 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS....................... ............ .................... 140 a p p e n d ix a — contribution o f v a r io u s p a r t s OF MICA LAYER TO THE STRUCTURE FACTOR OF BASAL REFLECTIONS........................................................................ 142 TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued Page APPENDIX B — HEAVY MINERALS OF THE C O R E................... .. 144 LITERATURE CITED ................... .......................................................... 146 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure , . » . - .
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