Clay Minerals, (2013) 48, 5983

Mineralogy and grain-size distribution of

clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin
(South Portugal)
M. J. TRINDADE

1,3,

*, F. ROCHA2,3, M. I. DIAS1,3

AND

M . I . P R U D E N C I O 1 , 3

1
Campus Tecnologico e Nuclear, Instituto Superior Tenico, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, EN 10, 2686-953
Sacavem, Portugal, 2 Departamento de Geociencias, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago,
3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal, and
3
GeoBioTec - GeoBiociencias, GeoTecnologias e GeoEngenharias, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

(Received 20 April 2011; revised 11 October 2012; Editor: John Adams)

AB ST R ACT : A detailed survey of the most clay-rich rock units of the Meso-Cenozoic geological
section exposed in the Algarve Basin (South Portugal) was performed and data were analysed for the
grain-size distribution and mineralogy (whole rock and clay fraction), aimed at a compositional study
of the clay-rich sediments and their depositional environment. Granulometry was obtained using wet
sieving and laser diffraction by attenuation of X-rays, and the mineralogical study was carried out by
X-ray diffraction.
Most clay-rich rock units of the Algarve are classified as silty clays and clayey silts, and only a
minority is coarser. The mineralogical study enabled us to define two main types of clays: (1) noncalcareous clays, consisting largely of quartz and clay minerals, with goethite as the typical Fe-rich
phase (sediments of Carboniferous, Neogene and Quaternary age and Cretaceous siliciclastic clays);
and (2) calcareous clays, which can be calcite-rich clays (Middle and Upper Jurassic) or dolomiterich clays (Triassic and Lower Jurassic), the latter typically containing hematite as an accessory
phase. Plagioclase, K-feldspar, and Ti-oxides are often accessory phases, whereas ankerite,
anhydrite, gypsum and opal are rare.
In the clay fraction illite generally predominates, resulting probably from weathering of
preexisting rocks, as well as the less frequent Fe-chlorite, pointing to incipient chemical alteration
under semi-arid climatic conditions. Kaolinite occurs in diverse proportions, being especially
abundant in Cretaceous and Cenozoic units; it is mainly related to chemical weathering in continental
environments under humid conditions. As the Atlantic Ocean opened during Triassic and the
continental environment evolved to a shallow-marine environment with evaporitic conditions,
smectite became more expressive, being sometimes accompanied by other Mg-rich phases (chlorite,
sepiolite, corrensite and palygorskite). Especially during the Cenozoic the proportion of different
phases in the clay mineral association of the sediments reflects the control of tectonic movements
and fluctuations in sea level during their deposition.

KEYWORDS: Algarve Basin, Portugal, granulometry, clays-rich rock units, clay minerals, mineralogy,
palaeoenvironments.

* E-mail: mjtrindade@itn.pt
DOI: 10.1180/claymin.2013.048.4.04

The Algarve basin is relatively well characterized in

terms of sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology
and tectonics but specific information on the clayrich rock units is sparse; the outdated work of
Manuppella et al. (1985) is still the main source,
and some other information concerning the clay# 2013 The Mineralogical Society

60

M. J. Trindade et al.

rich rock units is usually found integrated in more

general works about the Algarve geology (Pereira,
1970; Moreira, 1991). In particular, studies on the
clay mineral associations characterizing the diverse
clay-rich stratigraphic units are few and normally
restricted in terms of area, age and/or number of
formations studied (Prates, 1986; Hendricks et al.,
1988; Prudencio et al., 2002; Trindade et al., 2006,
2010; Heimhofer et al., 2008). This type of study is
essential in complementing other investigations, as
the clay mineral associations are controlled by preand post-burial conditions, enabling clarification of
some palaeoenvironmental questions and assisting
in the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of
sedimentary basins (Millot, 1964; Singer, 1984;
Velde, 1985; Rocha, 1993; Rocha & Gomes, 1995;
Thiry, 2000; Ahlberg et al., 2003; Jeans, 2006a,b,c).
Pre-burial controls include source area lithology,
depositional environments, palaeoclimate and topography, among others (Singer, 1984; Chamley,
1989), whereas the post-burial or diagenetic
processes can modify the original detrital composition of clays or even erase the primary depositional
features (e.g. Hower et al., 1976). The clay mineral
assemblages are significantly influenced by the
dominant weathering processes and provide information on changes in aridity/humidity patterns.
In this work, our purpose is to provide a detailed
mineralogical and granulometric characterization of
the most clay-rich rock units from the Algarve
Basin, including geological units of diverse age and
location. Ultimately we aim to study the depositional environment of the Meso-Cenozoic clay-rich
rocks and contribute to the understanding of the
evolutionary history of the Algarve Basin, based on
the palaeoenvironmental information provided by
the interpretation of clay mineral associations.
The characterization of the Algarve clay-rich
rock units is also behind the objectives proposed in
this work, as it may serve as a basis for future
studies in different areas. For example, it has
application in ceramic industry investigations since
some of the units discussed are currently being
extracted as common clays or they may have the
potential to be exploited in the future. On the other
hand, the compositional fingerprints of any
particular clay-rich unit can be used in archaeometric studies to locate the source of raw materials
used in the manufacture of archaeological ceramics,
as already has been done to establish the origin of
clays used in amphorae production from the Manta
Rota kilns (Dias et al., 2009).

GEOLOGICAL SETTING
The sedimentary Algarve Basin is located in South
Portugal (Fig. 1a). It is formed of two superimposed
Mesozoic and Cenozoic basins (Terrinha, 1998)
developed on a Carboniferous low-grade metamorphic basement (Munha, 1990) that consists of
alternating slates and greywackes metamorphosed
during the Variscan orogeny (Oliveira, 1990).
The Mesozoic basin was related to subsidence
along the Algarve margin, which was controlled by
extensional tectonics associated with the breakup of
Pangea and development of the westernmost NeoTethys (Terrinha, 1998). The Cenozoic basin was
first developed in the Late Palaeogene (Manuppella,
1988) or Early Miocene (Cachao, 1995a). The
hiatus separating the two basinal cycles was caused
by the tectonic inversion and uplift of the Mesozoic
rift basin (Terrinha, 1998).
The sedimentary environments evolved from
continental in the Triassic through confined littoral
and evaporitic in Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic
(up to Sinemurian) times, to open marine in the
Early Pliensbachian (Rocha & Rey in Terrinha et
al., 2006). Triassic sediments consist of red
terrigenous conglomerates, sandstones and shales;
Upper Triassic to Sinemurian sediments consist of
red shales, dolomites and evaporites; and Early
Pliensbachian sediments consist of limestones,
dolomites and marls. A tholeiitic volcanic event at
the Hettangian-Sinemurian transition signals the
rifting phase (Martins & Kerrich, 1998). The
volcano-sedimentary complex is composed of
basaltic lavas and pyroclastic rocks intercalated
with clays, dolomites or limestones.
Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentation was
essentially marine (limestones and marls predominate), displaying important facies variations related
to pronounced sea-level fluctuations. Transgression
cycles of the Lower Cretaceous were sometimes
interrupted by intense tectonic movements that
provoked siliciclastic fluvial discharges during the
Berriasian in Central Algarve (Sobral sandstones
unit) and Barremian in Eastern Algarve (shales and
sandstones of the Wealden facies unit) (Rocha &
Rey in Terrinha et al., 2006).
After a period of intense tectonics from Upper
Cretaceous to Early Miocene, the sedimentary
deposition occurred during two transgression
cycles (Middle and Upper Miocene) separated by
a hiatus that represents a generalized uplift of the
Algarve sector (Cachao & Silva, 1992). The first

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

61

FIG. 1. Simplified geological map of the Meso-Cenozoic Algarve Basin (a) and sampling location on the map (b).

sequence of sediments is carbonate-rich and the

second is siliciclastic (Cachao et al., 1998; Cachao
& Silva in Terrinha et al., 2006).
Jurassic to Miocene calcareous rocks have been
karstified, being the palaeokarsts fossilized by
Pliocene to Pleistocene fluvial/marine detrital
sediments of the Faro-Quarteira Fm. The youngest
sediments are Holocene beach sand and dunes
forming the Ria Formosa island-barrier system and
alluvium terraces and gravels. Holocene deposition

was influenced by frequent climatic oscillations and

sea-level fluctuations (Moura et al., 2007).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sampling was carried out on the most clay-rich
rock units of the Algarve. Eighty-four samples from
various units of Triassic to Holocene age were
collected within the basin; in addition, seven
samples of residual clay developed by weathering

62

M. J. Trindade et al.

of Carboniferous rocks were also sampled, as they

could be the source of detrital clay during the
Triassic and later deposition (Fig. 1b). The schematic stratigraphy of the Algarve region (based on
Manuppella, 1992) is shown in Fig. 2. In this
figure, the sampled units are represented by regular
font.
The granulometric study of samples was done by
wet sieving, using ASTM standard sieves for grain
sizes >63 mm and using laser diffraction by
attenuation of X-rays (Micrometrics Sedigraph
5100) for grain sizes <63 mm. About 3.5 g of the
dried silt+clay fraction, which was obtained by wet
sieving, were used for grain-size fraction separation
using laser diffraction; this technique was applied
after sample disaggregation and deflocculation by
adding 1% aqueous solution of sodium hexametaphosphate, which is known to show good
performance in dispersing clay-rich rocks
(Andreola et al., 2004). Each sample was divided
into various size fractions, considering a spherical
shape for the particles, which enabled construction
of the particle distribution graph from the weight or
volume percentage of particles in each defined size
category. The sediments were then classified
according to their sand-silt-clay proportion as
described by Shepard (1954).
The mineralogical study of non-clay and clay
minerals was carried out by X-ray diffraction
(XRD), using a Philips XPert Pro diffractometer,
with Cu-Ka radiation and operating at 45 kV and
40 mA. The non-clay mineralogy was obtained by
using non-oriented powder of whole rock in the
4 60 2y range, a 1 divergence slit, and a scan of
1 min 1. Clay minerals were identified using
oriented aggregates of the clay fraction (<2 mm),
measuring in the 2 20 2y range and using a 0.5
divergence slit; all other conditions were similar to
those used in whole powder samples. The clay
fraction was obtained after decalcification with a
buffer solution of acetic acid plus sodium acetate at
pH = 5, followed by washing with distilled water.
After separation of the sand fraction by wet sieving,
the separation of the <2 mm fraction was undertaken
on hexametaphosphate dispersed suspension based
on Stokes formula using gravity settling. Oriented
aggregates were prepared by pipetting 2 ml of clay
suspension on glass slides and drying at room
temperature. Diffractograms were obtained for airdried aggregates and after ethylene-glycol solvation
(EG) at 80C (overnight), and heating to 550C
peak appeared in the diffractogram,
(2 h). If a 14 A

additional treatments were carried out to help with

identification; these included Mg-saturation, Mg
saturation followed by EG solvation, K-saturation
and K saturation followed by heating to 300C.
Kaolinite-chlorite mixtures were treated with 1 N
HCl (boiling for 2 h), and the air-dried, EG solvated
and heated (550C) diffractograms were used to
distinguish Fe-rich chlorite from kaolinite (Moore
& Reynolds, 1997).
XRD was also applied to non-oriented clay
fraction to help identify trace phases, the illite
polytype and the di- or trioctahedral character of
smectites from the (060) reflections (step size
0.004 2y, range 58 64 2y).
The estimation of mineral abundances was done
by measuring the diagnostic peak area, considering
the full width at half maximum (FWHM), of each
mineral and then weighted by empirically estimated
factors or reflection powers, according to criteria
recommended by Schultz (1964) and Thorez (1976).
The following reflection powers were used: 0.1
(phyllosilicates), 0.5 (illite), 1.25 (chlorite), 1.3
(hematite), 1 (anatase, ankerite, calcite, dolomite,
goethite, K-feldspar, opal, plagioclase, pyrite, rutile,
kaolinite), 1.5 (anhydrite, gypsum), 2 (quartz), 3
(vermiculite), and 4 (smectite) (values based on
Schultz, 1964; Barahona, 1974; Rocha, 1993;
Oliveira et al., 2002; Martins et al., 2007). The
total amount of clay minerals was first determined
by considering the peak area of the diffraction
in nonmaximum of phyllosilicates at 4.48 A
oriented aggregates. Percentages of the different
clay minerals were then obtained from the peak
areas of diagnostic basal reflections of the species
in the glycolated clay fractions. The abundance of
mixed-layered clay minerals was not estimated due
to their small amounts. Given the uncertainties
involved in semiquantification, the results obtained
are rough estimates of mineral percentages, but the
presence/absence or dominance/subordination relationships obtained were considered enough to
define assemblages.

RESULTS
Granulometry
Comparison among samples was undertaken
using a convenient number of robust statistical
measures (Pye & Blott, 2004), including the
percentage of sand (>63 mm), silt (2 63 mm) and
clay (<2 mm), the median size (D50 value), the

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

63

FIG. 2. Schematic stratigraphy for the Algarve region, adapted from Manuppella (1992). Sampled clay-rich rock
units are represented in regular font style.

64

M. J. Trindade et al.

primary modal particle size, the measure of

distribution spread defined by the difference
between the 90th and 10th percentile values (D90D10), and a description of the shape of the particle
size distribution curve. Table 1 presents the
summary of the particle size data.
Laser granulometry of the fine-grained sediments
reveals polymodal distribution in frequency curves
for the majority of samples, which has long been
recognized for most sediments (Ashley, 1978;
Bagnold & Barndorff-Nielsen, 1980), representing
different transport or depositional processes. The
clay-rich rock units of the Algarve exhibit high
dispersion of particle size, being distributed on
almost all Shepards diagram fields (Fig. 3), with
special incidence of clayey silts and silty clays.
Carboniferous clays are generally richer in the
silt fraction, corresponding mainly to clayey silts.
The fine-grained fraction has a distribution spread
around 20 mm, with a median size and main mode
of about 3 and 4 mm, respectively.
Triassic to Hettangian red clays have a large clay
and silt content, varying mostly from silty clays to

clayey silts; they have two or more modes and

present very low median values and a relatively low
distribution spread on average. Clayey silts
predominate in the volcano-sedimentary complex,
which exhibits a more poorly sorted bimodal/
polymodal distribution and greater primary modal
particle size.
Middle and Upper Jurassic clays have a very low
percentage of sand, corresponding mostly to clayey
silts, silty clays and clays; the finer samples,
classified as clays, came from Telheiro clay-pit
(samples Te). Middle Jurassic sediments present a
more well sorted size distribution and lower median
and mode values than the Oxfordian ones.
The siliciclastic Cretaceous (Berriasian and
Barremian) units exhibit different shapes of the
particle size distribution curve, with poorly sorted
distributions, especially for the Sobral Fm., and
consist mainly of clay and silt, with an additional
sand component, sometimes significant; they are
usually clayey silts, and less frequently sand silt
clays or silty clays. The Aptian calcareous clay is
very rich in clay and poor in sand (silty clay); it

FIG. 3. Grain-size classification of the clay-rich rocks units from the Algarve in Shepards (1954) diagram. Fields
indicate: (1) clay, (2) sandy clay, (3) silty clay, (4) sand silt clay, (5) clayey sand, (6) clayey silt, (7) sand,
(8) silty sand, (9) sandy silt, and (10) silt.

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

shows a very well sorted bimodal distribution, with

very low values for the median and primary mode.
Miocene and Quaternary samples have a highly
variable grain-size distribution, with a tendency to
be coarser than Mesozoic/Palaeozoic samples.
Usually, clay and sand components predominate
and are therefore often classified as sandy clay,
sand silt clay or clayey sand. A polymodal
distribution curve with a wide distribution spread
is common, but a few samples (Sa1, Fa1 and Pt1)
show a well sorted unimodal (asymmetrical)
distribution.

Mineralogy
Taking into account the main mineral components that characterize the clay-rich rock units from
the Algarve, they are notable for the existence of a
large group of non-calcareous clays (Fig. 4); they
show highly variable percentages of phyllosilicates
(clay minerals) and quartz, the latter being most
abundant in samples of Cretaceous and Neogene
age, whereas the clay minerals are generally more
abundant in samples from Triassic and Lower
Jurassic units. About half of the samples studied,

65

especially those from Triassic and Jurassic units,

are characterized by the presence of carbonates in
varying amounts, sometimes much higher than the
percentages of quartz and clay minerals.
A detailed mineralogical study of samples from
the main clay-rich units of the Algarve is presented
in Table 2. The illite crystallinity index results,
measured whenever was possible, are shown in
Table 3. Table 4 illustrates the average mineralogical composition (bulk rock and clay fraction) of
the various stratigraphic units studied.
The composition of the illite octahedral sheet was
/10 A
peak intensity ratios
studied by obtaining 5 A
in the diffractograms for clay fraction (Fig. 5). Alrich (muscovitic) illite has >0.4 values, Fe- and Mgrich (biotitic) illite has <0.15 values, and compositionally intermediate illite has values between 0.4
and 0.15 (Esquevin, 1969). The illite crystallinity
(IC) was estimated by measuring the FWHM of the
XRD peak of illite as measured on the <2 mm
5A
fraction, following the suggestion of Battaglia et al.
(2004), after adjusting the diffractometric curve
with an automatic Pseudo-Voigt algorithm. This
alternative to the Kubler index (Kubler, 1967) is
based on the observation that minor phases

FIG. 4. Carbonate-quartz-phyllosilicate ternary graph for the Algarve clay-rich rock units.

0.4
14.1
(13.1)

PL1

CL1-2
Et1-2
SL1-3

Aptian
Luz Formation

Barremian
Shales and sandstones
of the wealdian facies

Bathonian
Praia da Mareta
marls/limestones

Callovian
Telheiro limestones and marls

Oxfordian
Peral limestones and marls

PM1

35.2

31.5
(14.4)

7.0
(7.6)
1.7

50.1
(21.4)

44.4
(11.0)

38.5
(17.1)

27.2

25.3
(5.7)

22.7
(24.2)

27.7
(7.9)

Silt
(%)

3.7
(0.6)

17.5
(12.9)

37.7
(29.1)

Cba1
Cba3
VNC1

Miocene
Cacela Formation

MM1-5
Pc1-2
Va1-4, 7-8
VS1-4
Bt1
Sg1
RS1
RS4-5
Te1-2, Te4

40.8
(24.3)

Fa1, PF1
MT1-3
PoA1
Pt1, Qa1

Pleistocene
Faro-Quarteira sands
and gravels

Berriasian
Sobral Formation

28.5
(3.3)

Sand
(%)

Ba1-3
Ca1
Sa1

Samples

Holocene
Gravel and terraces

Age/units

63.1

61.6
(21.2)

46.4
(22.1)

38.1
(12.1)

47.3
(19.2)

72.4

37.0
(29.2)

36.5
(12.3)

43.8
(9.8)

Clay
(%)

bimodal

silty clay

bimodal

clayey silt - 3
silty clay - 2
polymodal, bimodal
clay - 1
sand silt clay 1
clayey silt - 7
sand silt clay - 6 polymodal, bimodal,
unimodal
silty clay - 3
sandy silt - 1
silty clay - 1
polymodal
clayey silt - 1
clay - 3
clayey silt - 2
bimodal, polymodal
silty clay - 1

silty clay

3.8
(5.5)

1.4
(1.2)

2.01

13.0
(17.9)

5.5
(6.8)

1.0

18.1
(17.4)

5.2
(6.6)

1.2

25.3
(21.7)

18.1
(13.2)

11.0
(15.1)

4.0
(6.1)

2.2
(1.9)

0.5

2.9
(3.1)

2.8
(5.4)

2.1
(2.2)

7.96

11.9
(9.6)

26.5
(13.0)

31.2
(10.6)

20.0
(11.2)

5.9

33.0
(17.0)

18.8
(13.8)

23.6
(14.2)

<63 mm fraction
Distribution
Median
Mode
D90-D10
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)

sand silt clay - 2

clayey sand - 1
polymodal, unimodal
sandy clay - 1
silty clay - 1
clayey sand - 2
sandy clay - 2
unimodal, polymodal
clayey silt - 2
sand silt clay - 1
sand - 1
sand silt clay - 1
silty clay - 1
polymodal
silty sand - 1

Classification

TABLE 1. Average particle size distribution data for 91 samples from the 16 clay-rich units studied. Standard deviation is given in parenthesis.

66
M. J. Trindade et al.

Upper Triassic
Silves sandstones
Lower-Middle Triassic
Westphalian
Brejeira Formation
Namurian
Mira Formation

Upper Triassic/Hettangian
Silves shales, limestones and
evaporites

Hettangian
Volcano-sedimentary complex

SBM1
BSJc1-3
RP1
Az1, Cp1
SCB1

SC2,
SCB3
Tor2, VB1
VBoi3,
VlB2
Al3, Be1
BSJ1-3
CM2-4,
PTe1,
Crd1
RA1, S1
SCB5-6
Sv1, Tor1
VA1,
VlB1
VBoi1-2
FS3-6
44.6
(14.7)

46.0
(11.4)
24.1
56.8
(15.4)
48.5
(18.5)

1.6
(1.0)
3.7
7.1
(1.8)
14.9
(11.2)

54.8
(12.6)

11.5
(25.3)

8.5
(12.0)

52.4
(10.9)
72.2
36.2
(16.6)
36.5
(8.4)

48.5
(13.7)

36.7
(17.7)

bimodal, polymodal

polymodal
bimodal, polymodal

polymodal, bimodal

polymodal, bimodal

silty clay - 13
clayey silt - 9
clayey sand - 1

clayey silt - 2
silty clay
2
silty clay
clayey silt - 3
silty clay - 1
sand silt clay - 2
clayey silt - 1

polymodal, bimodal

clayey silt - 4
silty clay - 1
sandy silt - 1

2.3
(1.8)
0.51
3.7
(2.0)
2.9
(2.1)

1.0
(0.29)

4.8
(3.5)

8.6
(13.4)
0.38
4.8
(4.2)
4.0
(5.8)

3.75
(4.86)

14.0
(5.8)

16.3
(11.3)
6.56
22.0
(12.0)
20.6
(1.0)

11.97
(15.4)

23.7
(7.1)

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

67

34
16
39

67
85
69
70
71
58
65

23
76
83
70
56
43
19
20

80
69
72
39
31

LOWER CRETACEOUS: Barremian

Shales, arenites and conglomerates of wealdien facies (C1)
CL1
35
56

4
2

CL2
51
41

2
tr

1
5

Et1
53
37

2
3

2
3

Et2
40
33

2
3

5
16
1

SL1
35
55

2
1

2
5

SL2
59
36

tr
1

2
2

SL3
58
34

1
3

2
1
1

3
1

1 (Gp)

90

Luz Fm. (C2)

1
2

tr

33
15
31
27
27
38
29

10

37
53
31

77
17
17
25
44
57
80
80

14
26
21
60
69

tr
tr

3
1
1

29
31
30

5
tr

6
5
7
1

tr

tr

tr

3
5

Ill-Sme
Ill-Vrm
Ill-Sme

Ill-Chl?

Chl-Vrm

Chl-Vrm

Ill-Vrm

Clay mineralogy
Ill
Kln
Sme
Chl
Vrm
Other

7
4
8

Miocene
Cacela Fm. (MC)
76
16

1
30
62

1
80
9

LOWER CRETACEOUS: Aptian

PL1
13
71
9

NEOGENE:
Cba1
Cba3
VNC1

Tr
3
2
2

QUATERNARY: Pleistocene
Sands and gravel from Faro-Quarteira (Qa)
Fa1
67
31

1
1
MT1
36
55

2
2

1
4
MT2
30
54

1
2

7
3
MT3
41
46

2
2

4
3
PF1
50
42

PoA1
87
12

tr

tr

Pt1
49
45

Qa1
70
25

3
1

13
8
1
tr
4

2
1
1

2
5
1
2

Gravel and terraces (Qb)

1
3

1
3

2
1

2
1

Bulk mineralogy
Qtz
Phy
Cal
Dol
Kfs
Pl
Hem
Gt
Ant
Rt
Anh
Other

QUATERNARY: Holocene
Ba1
26
53
Ba2
53
28
Ba3
46
48
Ca1
68
27
Sa1
14
78

Sample

TABLE 2. Estimated mineral abundances in both whole rock and clay fraction for each sample. Symbolic representation of each unit is according to Manuppella (1992).

68
M. J. Trindade et al.

1 (Ank)

tr
3

Volcano-sedimentary complex (J1V)

34
tr

tr

21
1

tr
2

17
5

LOWER JURASSIC: Hettangian

SC2
5
49
10
SCB3
9
27
63
Tor2
1
26
51
VB1
14
81

Vboi3
1
89
8
VlB2
2
67
4

2
1
tr
2
tr
2

4 (Gp)

Marls and detritic limestones from Praia da Mareta (J3Z)

MIDDLE JURASSIC: Bathonian

PM1
6
40
47

1 (Py)

1 (Py)

Limestones and marls from Telheiro (J2T)

1
1
tr

1
2
1

1
1

Argillous limestones and marls from Peral (J3P)

4
2
1

1
7

1
4
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
3
2
2
1
2
1
2
2

MIDDLE JURASSIC: Callovian

RS1
26
23
48
RS4
19
34
39
RS5
10
30
57
Te1
7
47
43
Te2
7
38
52
Te4
7
49
40

UPPER JURASSIC: Oxfordian

Bt1
22
61
9
Sg1
28
16
46

3
4
tr

1
2
7
6

4
3
6
2
4

1
1

1
2
2
1
5
1
2
1

LOWER CRETACEOUS: Berriasian

Sobral Fm. (C1)
MM1
38
55

1
1
MM2
63
25

2
1
MM3
54
42

1
1
MM4
66
32

MM5
66
30

1
1
Pc1
72
21
2

2
1
Pc2
69
15
12

1
1
Va1
34
60

1
1
Va2
55
30

2
2
Va3
39
46

2
2
Va4
43
50

2
1
Va7
63
22

2
2
Va8
51
41

1
2
VS1
67
20

1
2
VS2
64
30

tr
2
VS3
58
32

2
2
VS4
50
44

1
2

26
24
43
97
6
31

81

82
80
79
81
61
71

94
45

65
71
59
38
60
88
75
70
58
73
64
71
62
56
67
75
61

20

3
3
10
tr

6
2
9
8
19
18

5
19

35
29
41
62
40
8
20
28
42
27
36
29
38
38
33
25
39

74
53

81
69

11

tr
tr
tr
6
13
11

36

54
2
tr

3
tr

tr

12
18
11
6
8
tr

tr

4
5

Chl-Sme

Plg

Ill-Vrm
Ill-Vrm

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

69

Arenites from Silves

82
2

92

2
48

45
44
3
30
(TS)
2
tr

3
1
tr

tr

3
1
1
2

LOWER TRIASSIC
Shales from S. Bartolomeu de Messines (TM)
SBM1
12
77
1

tr
2
tr

UPPER TRIASSIC
FS3
8
FS4
4
FS5
4
FS6
16
1

2
1
2
2

7 (Gp)

Shales, limestones and evaporites from Silves (J1S)

2
2

1
1

3
2

2
1

3
2

2
2

5
4

tr
tr

2
2

1
2

1
2

1
1

3
1

tr
3

2
1

9 (Ank)

tr
2 (Ank)

Bulk mineralogy
Qtz
Phy
Cal
Dol
Kfs
Pl
Hem
Gt
Ant
Rt
Anh
Other

TRIASSIC/ LOWER JURASSIC (Hettangian):

Al3
29
53
1
11

Be1
71
12
12
1
1
BSJ1
35
37
8
10
3
BSJ2
6
86
4

tr
BSJ3
8
77
3
3
3
CM2
15
76

1
1
CM3
10
59

24
1
CM4
27
48

11
2
Crd1
19
71
8

1
Es1
10
63

19
1
Es2
17
76
1
1
1
Es3
17
77

1
1
PTe1
11
70
5
2
7
RA1
20
37

38
1
S1
12
39
21
20
2
SCB5
31
39
23

1
SCB6
21
67

4
2
Sv1
4
69

18
tr
Tor1
4
20
1
70
2
VA1
10
75
2
7
2
VBoi1
17
56
2
9
4
VBoi2
15
60
11

6
VlB1
1
66
2
27
2

Sample

TABLE 2 (contd.).

99

100
100
100
100

97
95
87
100
90
100
100
99
93
100
99
100
70
98
80
69
100
100
96
98
70
80
45

3
5

tr
tr
4

7
tr

23

16

19
9
55

10

7
1
14
15

2
11
11

Chl-Sme

Sep
Cor

Chl-Vrm

Clay mineralogy
Ill
Kln
Sme
Chl
Vrm
Other

70
M. J. Trindade et al.

Abbreviations: Anh - anhydrite; Ank - ankerite; Ant - anatase; Cal - calcite; Dol - dolomite; Gt - goethite; Gp - gypsum; Hem - hematite; Kfs - potassium feldspar;
Op - opal; Phy - phyllosilicates; Pl - plagioclase; Py - pyrite; Qtz - quartz; Rt rutile; Chl - chlorite; Chl-Sme - mixed layered chlorite-smectite; Chl-Vrm - mixed
layered chlorite-vermiculite; Cor - corrensite; Ill - illite; Ill-Chl - mixed layered illite-chlorite; Ill-Sme - mixed layered illite-smectite; Ill-Vrm - mixed layered
illite-vermiculite; Kln - kaolinite; Plg - palygorskite; Sme - smectite; Sep - sepiolite; Vrm - vermiculite.

Ill-Sme

tr

23

tr

14
11
5
63
88
95

Namurian - Mira Fm.

26

35

52

15
CARBONIFEROUS:
Az1
62
SCB1
50
Cp1
29

(Hmi)

3
3
4
1
2

tr

4
5
1

79
86
99
86
Westphalian
61

64

48

62

CARBONIFEROUS:
BSJc1
28
BSJc2
26
BSJc3
39
RP1
24

Brejeira Fm. (HBr)

2
1

2
4

3
4

2
3

2
2
3
4

5
1
tr
3

1
1
2
2

1 (Op)

17
10
1
14

4
4

tr

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

71

(paragonite, mixed-layered illite-smectite and K/Na

rich mica) may be associated with the illite peak,
rkai, 2002).
interfering in the determination of IC (A
Battaglia et al. (2004) suggested that better results
peak in
are obtained if IC is measured on the 5 A
diffractograms of glycolated preparations, instead of
peak, because it
the traditional measure on the 10 A
is easier to decompose the diffractometric peak and
remove the contribution of minor phases. Wellordered illite shows symmetrical and narrow basal
reflections (low FWHM values).
Smectite crystallinity was also determined based
on the ratio between the valley height (v) of the left
peak and the peak height (p) in the
side of the 17 A
glycolated XRD patterns (Biscaye, 1965). Good
crystallinity is attributed to smectites with v/p > 0.7
and poor crystallinity to smectites with v/p < 0.1.

Residual clays of Carboniferous units

The secondary clays analysed, which result from
weathering of the Carboniferous substrate (slates
and greywackes of the Mira and Brejeira formations) of the Algarve Basin, consist mainly of clay
minerals and quartz, the Mira Fm. showing a
greater quartz/clay mineral ratio; K-feldspar,
plagioclase, goethite, anatase and rutile are
common accessory phases; dolomite and opal
were rarely identified.
Clay minerals consist of illite (60 100 %), minor
kaolinite and Fe-rich chlorite, the latter being
abundant in one sample of the Mira Fm. Traces
of smectite, vermiculite and mixed-layered illitesmectite are occasionally found in the Mira Fm.
Illites are the 2M1 polytype, with high crystallinity
(IC = 0.30.5), being generally muscovitic (Alrich), especially in the Mira Fm., and containing
/
Mg in the octahedral position rather than Fe (10 A

5 A < 2; White, 1962). Chlorites are trioctahedral

Fe-rich.

Triassic clay-rich units

Triassic sediments represent the initial filling of
the Algarve Basin. The shale layers of these
siliciclastic units are mainly composed of clay
minerals with minor quartz, carbonates (dolomite
and calcite), feldspars, anatase and hematite.
Abundant dolomite and gypsum were found in
two samples from the Upper Triassic, and in one
sample from the Lower Triassic, respectively. The
clay mineralogy is almost exclusively illite with

72

M. J. Trindade et al.
TABLE 3. Illite crystallinity (IC) of the clay-rich units from the Algarve.

Sample

IC

Holocene
Ba1
0.42
Ba2
0.50
Ba3
0.44
Ca1
0.54
Sa1
0.58
Pleistocene
Fa1
0.56
MT1
0.34
MT2
0.28
MT3
0.31
PF1
0.35
PoA1
0.46
Pt1
0.61
Qa1
0.61
Miocene
Cba1
0.26
Cba3
0.34
VNC1
0.21
Aptian
PL1
0.31
Barremian
CL1
0.35
CL2
0.24
Et1
0.33
Et2
0.35
SL1
0.28
SL2
0.36
SL3
0.24
Berriasian
MM1
0.41
MM2
0.42
MM3
0.22
MM4
0.54
MM5
0.27

Sample

IC

Pc1
0.25
Pc2
0.26
Va1
0.43
Va2
0.26
Va3
0.31
Va4
0.24
Va7
0.45
Va8
0.18
VS1
0.44
VS2
0.21
VS3
0.25
VS4
0.44
Oxfordian
Bt1
0.26
Sg1
0.22
Callovian
RS1
0.33
RS4
0.16
RS5
0.22
Te1
0.27
Te4
0.35
Bathonian
PM1
0.30
Hettangian
SC2

SCB3

Tor2

VB1
0.47
Vboi3

VlB2

Trias.-Hettang.
Al3
0.40
Be1
0.45
BSJ1
0.61
BSJ2
0.62

traces of kaolinite. Illites are the 2M1 polytype and

have a lower crystallinity (IC = 0.50.7) and are
less aluminous than those from residual clays; the
/5 A
peak intensity ratios are between 4 and 7,
10 A
suggesting that the octahedral sites are Fe-rich.

Upper Triassic Lower Jurassic clay-rich units

The Silves red shales unit from Upper Triassic to
Lower Jurassic consists mainly of clay minerals and
lesser amounts of quartz and carbonates (dolomite,
calcite and rarely ankerite); the carbonate content
may vary significantly. Small amounts of hematite,
K-feldspar, plagioclase, anatase and less frequently
anhydrite were also found. The clay fraction is

Sample

IC

BSJ3
0.87
CM2
0.40
CM3
0.46
CM4
0.37
Crd1
0.80
Es1
0.31
Es2
0.38
Es3
0.26
Pte1
0.43
RA1
0.58
S1
0.75
SCB5
0.76
SCB6
0.49
Sv1
0.49
Tor1

VA1
0.27
VBoi1
0.36
VBoi2
0.43
VlB1

Upper Triassic
FS4
0.48
FS5
0.51
FS6
0.53
Lower Triassic
SBM1
0.64
Westphalian
BSJc1
0.39
BSJc2
0.42
BSJc3
0.47
RP1
0.50
Namurian
Az1
0.50
SCB1
0.28
Cp1
0.39

largely dominated by illite, with minor amounts of

chlorite, smectite and kaolinite. In general, greater
amounts of smectite and chlorite were observed in
the Western Algarve (Trindade, 2007). Sepiolite,
corrensite and irregular mixed-layered chloritesmectite and chlorite-vermiculite may occur in
trace amounts. Illites are the 2M1 polytype, have
variable Al 2 O 3 /(FeO+MgO) ratio (biotitic to
muscovitic illite) and variable crystallinity, from
high to moderate (IC = 0.30.9) and most of them
are Fe-rich. The position of the (060) reflection
) indicates the trioctahedral
peaks (d060 & 1.53 A
character of the chlorite. The peak overlap was not
significant, two types of chlorite being identified,
one Fe-rich (samples PTe1, VBoi1-2, SCB5) and

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

73

FIG. 5. Illite crystallinity (IC) vs. I(002)/I(001) for illites of the clay-rich rock units from the Algarve: a, biotite;
b, biotite+muscovite; c, phengite; and d, muscovite (Esquevin, 1969).

the other Mg-rich (e.g. samples BSJ3, S1 and

Cdr1). Mg-rich chlorite occurs in samples where
illite has high IC values. Smectites are dioctahedral,
moderately crystallized (v/p = 0.5 0.7) and in at
least in two samples (PTe1 and VlB1) was
identified as low-charged due to its incomplete
with K-saturation, suggesting an
collapse to 12 A
authigenic origin (Thorez, 1976).
Clay-rich sediments from the volcano-sedimentary complex have a variable composition, especially in terms of clay minerals and carbonate
proportions. Quartz, feldspars, Ti-oxides and
goethite may occur in small amounts. The clay
fraction commonly consists of illite and smectite in
variable proportions, with minor amounts of kaolinite and chlorite and rarely with palygorskite and
irregular mixed-layered chlorite-smectite; however,
the sample SC2 is an exception, with Fe-rich
chlorite as the major component. The measurement
of illite crystallinity was difficult, due to the large
content of smectite, but well-crystallized illite with
a low Al2O3/(FeO+MgO) ratio (< 0.4) was observed
in sample VB1. Smectites are low charged and have
high crystallinity (v/p > 0.7). The (060) reflection
indicates both dioctahedral (samples Tor2 and
SCB3) and trioctahedral (samples VlB2 and

VBoi3) varieties.

Middle and Upper Jurassic clay-rich units

These marly units consist mainly of calcite and
clay minerals, with minor amounts of quartz and
accessory feldspar and Ti-oxide; rarely gypsum,
dolomite and Fe-oxyhydroxides may occur. Illite
predominates in the clay fraction, being accompanied by smectite and kaolinite in Bathonian and
Oxfordian samples, and by kaolinite, chlorite and
smectite in Callovian samples. Traces of vermiculite and mixed-layered illite-vermiculite were
observed in Oxfordian samples. Illites have high
crystallinity (IC = 0.20.4) and are very aluminous
(I(002)/I(001) = 0.4 to 0.6). Smectites are low
charged, dioctahedral and have moderate crystallinity (IC = 0.20.7). When it was possible to
observe chlorite diffraction peaks and make
inferences about its composition, we detected Ferich chlorite.

Lower Cretaceous clay-rich units

Clay-rich sediments from the Lower Cretaceous
can be separated into siliciclastic clays and marly

74

M. J. Trindade et al.

TABLE 4. Average mineralogy of bulk rock and clay fraction for the various clay-rich geologic units studied from
the Algarve. Abbreviations are as in Table 1.

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

75

TABLE 4. (contd.).

clays; these different facies indicate that they were

formed under distinct environmental conditions
(Berthou et al., 1983; Prates, 1986). The siliciclastic
units of shales, arenites and conglomerates of the
Wealden facies (Barremian age) and the Sobral Fm.
(Berriasian age) consist predominantly of quartz
and clay minerals. Accessory minerals include
goethite, plagioclase, K-feldspar, anatase, rutile,
calcite and pyrite, the last two were rarely found
in the Sobral Fm. The clay fraction is dominated by
illite and kaolinite (10 60 %) with subordinate
amounts of chlorite and vermiculite in samples of
Berriasian age, and traces of vermiculite, smectite,
chlorite, and illite-rich mixed-layered phases in
samples of Barremian age. Illites have high
crystallinity (IC = 0.20.5) and variable composition, but the majority are aluminous (muscovitetype).
The only marly clay (sample PL1) analysed
consists mainly of clay minerals and lesser amounts
of quartz, calcite, feldspars, anatase and goethite.

The clay fraction has abundant illite and minor

amounts of kaolinite.

Neogene clay-rich units

Miocene clays from the Cacela Fm. are
composed mainly of quartz and clay minerals,
with minor feldspar (especially plagioclase) and
anatase. The clay fraction consists of kaolinite, illite
and smectite in similar proportions. Illites are the
2M1 polytype, muscovitic and with high crystallinity (IC = 0.2 0.5). Smectites are moderately to
highly crystalline (v/p = 0.60.8), dioctahedral and
low charged.
Pleistocene and Holocene clays have similar
mineralogical compositions, consisting mostly of
quartz and clay minerals, with accessory goethite,
feldspars and Ti-oxides. The clay fraction is
dominated by illite and kaolinite in varying
proportions; smectite occurs frequently in minor
amounts, and traces of irregular mixed-layered

76

M. J. Trindade et al.

chlorite-vermiculite and illite-vermiculite were

found in Pleistocene samples. The illites are the
2M1 polytype, with IC varying from 0.3 to 0.6 and
tend to be less aluminous than Miocene illite.
Smectite crystallinity was difficult to measure due
to its low abundance, but it appears to have low
crystallinity and to be dioctahedral and low
charged.

DISCUSSION
Mineralogical results, particularly the clay mineral
associations, are discussed in the context of the
evolutionary history of the Algarve basin, taking
into account that the changing average amounts of
detrital and neoformed clay minerals reflect the
control of synsedimentary tectonic movements, as
well as of transgressions and regressions, on
deposition. Given the lack of information for a
continuous sedimentary record in this work, the
palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental interpretations of the mineralogical record made here are
not exhaustive and are based on previous works
(e.g. Prates, 1986; Hendricks et al., 1988;
Heimhofer et al., 2008), contributing to reinforce
some of the conclusions drawn and give new
insights into the evolution of Algarve Basin.

Residual clays of Carboniferous units

The high crystallinity of illites from residual clays
of Westphalian and Namurian age (Table 3; Fig. 5)
suggests they suffered advanced diagenesis or even a
very low grade of metamorphism (Kisch, 1991). The
presence of illite and Fe-chlorite in these clays have
been interpreted as chemically unaltered detrital
minerals derived from weathering of Carboniferous
strata, and their association as being inherited from
parent rocks (Hendricks et al., 1988). The presence
of small amounts of kaolinite in the residual clays
points to later hydrolysis in a well drained
continental environment, under a warm and humid
climate. The association illite-chlorite-kaolinite
indicates a strong influence of emerged lands
(Lopez Aguayo & Caballero, 1973; Singer, 1984).
Tectonic movements during Permian times
promoted the gradual uplift of Carboniferous
rocks (Marques, 1983) followed by distensive
tectonics during Triassic to Cretaceous times
associated with Pangea fragmentation (Terrinha,
1998). Deposition of the Mesozoic sediments in a
tectonically active setting favoured detrital clay

mineral assemblages (Chamley, 1989) that can

mainly be explained by the source rock mineralogy
and palaeoflow pattern (Net et al., 2002).
Palaeozoic rocks were the most important source
of clay minerals in the Mesozoic receiving basin.
Regarding the main palaeoflow to the south
(Oliveira, 1990), the sediment path to the Algarve
basin was related to fluvial systems that received
sediments from the drainage basement rocks, which
should have mostly supplied illite; indeed, illite
abounds in Mesozoic sediments. The good crystallinity of illites, similar to those of the source rocks,
sustains the hypothesis of significant source rock
control over the clay mineral assemblages of the
basin sediments. The compositional variability of
illite between the Mira and Brejeira formations
suggests some heterogeneity of the source area.

Triassic clay-rich units

Ferric illite is frequently the sole component of
the clay assemblage of Triassic fine-grained
siliciclastic units from the Algarve, as is often
found in Permian to Triassic sediments of Western
Europe (Jeans et al., 1994), and is most probably
related to the climatic conditions. The Pangea
climatic regime has been described as megamonsoonal, characterized by a pronounced long dry
season with temporally concentrated rain seasons
(Parrish, 1993). The combination of high erosion
rate of the rejuvenated Palaeozoic rocks with an
arid climate promoted advanced physical alteration,
enabling the preservation of detrital minerals and
leading to the formation of the typical red beds
(Millot, 1964; Daoudi & Deconinck, 1994). This
siliciclastic unit widespread all over the world has
variable granulometry and consists mainly of illite
associated with hematite.
The low IC values obtained for Triassic samples
and their 2M1 polytype, suggest that the illites are
detrital. Illites were most probably formed due to
intense weathering of the source area
(Carboniferous rocks) under semi-arid seasonal
conditions, associated with long fluvial transport
in repeated erosion-sedimentation cycles, with total
destruction of other clay minerals (e.g. chlorite)
beyond the resistant illite in an aqueous environment (Lippmann & Berthold, 1992; AlonsoAzcarate et al., 1997). However, Jeans et al.
(1994), basing their findings on chemical, mineralogical and radioisotope (K/Ar) data of PermoTriassic illite clay assemblages of Western Europe,

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

refute the detrital origin of illite as being derived

from pre-existing rocks, suggesting that illite is
pedogenic, originally formed in coeval desert soils
that were later eroded and deposited as fine grained
detritus in adjacent areas. Indeed, the authors
records indicate that pedogenic clay mica was
formed in large quantities during the PermoTriassic when the climate was arid over much of
Europe. For the Algarve Triassic illites we cannot
draw conclusions on its pedogenic origin with the
insufficient data we have, in particular with the lack
of K/Ar age data.

Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic clay-rich units

From Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic times, the
early breakup of Pangea was accompanied by
increased onshore humidity as seaways opened
into the Pangean interior with the installation of
epicontinental seas (Ahlberg et al., 2002). The
Silves shales, dolomites and evaporites unit were
deposited in this transitional environment. It
consists mainly of illite and minor chlorite and
smectite, the first two being most likely detrital.
The attribution of a continental origin to smectite
by pedogenesis of detrital illite or chlorite is
improbable due to the rarity of mixed-layer illitesmectite or chlorite-smectite, which may reflect the
degradation of the inherited minerals (Hendriks et
al., 1988). Indeed, the low-charge smectite found in
this unit points to an authigenic origin (Thorez,
1976) and is regarded as symptomatic of marine
environments (Gibbs, 1977; Thiry, 2000). As the
evaporitic conditions prevailed during deposition of
the pelitic sequence, smectite was probably
neoformed due to a strong influx of ion (Mg, Ca,
Si, Na and K)-rich solutions from continental areas
(Chamley, 1989, Meunier, 2005).
Beyond well crystallized Fe-chlorite of probable
detrital origin, poorly crystallized Mg-chlorite was
also identified in a few samples that also show
poorly crystallized illite with moderate IC values
(Fig. 5), which have been attributed to its degradation rather than being an original feature (Hendriks
et al., 1988). This suggests some sort of transformation of illite into Mg-chlorite, as the most degraded
illites may fix Mg and evolve to chlorite, which is
relatively common in shallow-marine hypersaline
environments (Alonso-Azcarate et al., 1997).
However, the low amount of Mg-chlorite in the
samples studied may be a consequence of the high
dolomite content, which fixes the Mg from

77

inhibiting the formation of chlorite.

Other Mg-rich minerals (sepiolite and corrensite)
occur rarely in the Silves red shale unit. Their
occurrence has been commonly reported in
evaporitic environments for the early Mesozoic
sediments from Western Europe (Chamley &
Debrabant, 1984; Castano et al., 1987), but not
that much in Portugal (Rocha, 1993). These Mgrich phases may form under special chemical
conditions induced by high evaporation rates,
depending on pH and Mg, Si and Al activities in
solution (Hillier, 1995; Birsoy, 2002). The modes of
occurrence and genesis of sepiolite could be diverse
(Dias, 1998; Birsoy, 2002), but most frequently take
place by direct precipitation from Mg enriched
solutions (Velde, 1985; Jones & Galan, 1988;
Meunier, 2005) under the 8.5 9.5 range of pH
(Galan & Castillo, 1984). Corrensite is usually an
intermediate product in the formation process of
Mg-chlorite by reaction of Mg-carbonate with
dioctahedral phyllosilicates (Barrenechea et al.,
2000; Meunier, 2005).
The red shale unit characteristics, consisting of
both detrital (illite and Fe-chlorite) and neoformed
(smectite, Mg-chlorite, sepiolite and corrensite) clay
minerals, in addition to the presence of dolomite
and anhydrite, point to their formation in an
environment with continental and marine control.
This mineral assemblage found in Algarve red
shales is in accordance with those formed in
epicontinental regions of Western Europe, dominated by arid climates with enhanced seawater
evaporation (Rocha, 1993; Weaver, 1989). The
coexistence of detrital and neoformed minerals in
evaporitic lagoons, showing zonation where Mg
minerals occupy a central position, have been
frequently reported (Krumm, 1969; Millot, 1964;
Lopez-Aguayo & Caballero, 1973; Meunier, 2005).
The South Iberian continental rifting and
subsequent overturn of the basin to sea is
represented by a Hettangian volcanic event that
was mixed with sediments, forming a volcanosedimentary complex (VSC) in which the type and
proportion of clay minerals depend on the nature of
the sediments, but illite and smectite generally
predominate.
The most probable origin for the smectite is
diagenitic alteration of ash-derived volcanic glass,
through a mechanism involving devitrification of
ashes, hydration and subsequent crystallization of
smectite (Ortega-Huertas et al., 1995; Jeans et al.,
2000; Shoval, 2004; Meunier, 2005). Huge amounts

78

M. J. Trindade et al.

of water and large contact surfaces with magma are

necessary to transform glass into smectite (Meunier,
2005), such conditions being consistent with the
phreato-magmatic system existing in the Algarve
during the volcanic episode that produced powerful
eruptions with abundant ashes mixed with hightemperature water vapour (Martins et al. in Terrinha
et al., 2006).
Trioctahedral Mg-smectite and palygorskite,
frequently reported in evaporitic lagoons (Weaver,
1989), were also identified in the VSC. The
palygorskite sample was collected in the same
area of the Central Algarve where the sepiolite
sample was found, suggesting the existence of
suitable Mg-rich conditions (Jones & Galan, 1988;
Hillier, 1995) in the past to generate Mg-rich
fibrous phases in the Tor region. A three-step
transformation of Al-Fe-rich dioctahedral smectite,
through Mg-rich smectite into palygorskite, is
commonly proposed for their generation (Velde,
1985; Dias, 1998; Meunier, 2005).
In Portugal, fibrous clay minerals like palygorskite and sepiolite are mainly associated with
Tertiary sediments from the main river basins
(Dias, 1998; Dias & Rocha, 2001); their presence
in clay-rich sediments of Triassic to Hettangian age,
associated with evaporitic conditions, was first
pointed out by Rocha (1993) when studying the
clay mineral associations of sediments from the
Aveiro basin (North Portugal). In this work, we
show that although rare, fibrous clays can be found
associated with the Algarve red shales and VSC
units of Upper Triassic and Hettangian age.

Middle and Upper Jurassic clay-rich units

After the Sinemurian the sediments were
deposited on a carbonate platform due to a
generalized transgression. In the clay fraction of
these calcite-rich clays the illite predominates,
containing minor amounts of smectite, kaolinite
and chlorite. The presence of kaolinite suggests
influence of continental lands, while smectite points
to a marine control. As sediments were deposited
on a carbonate platform, a higher smectite/kaolinite
proportion would be expected; the abundance of
kaolinite observed in the samples studied is
probably related to the lowering of sea level due
to the Upper Callovian to Middle Oxfordian
compressive tectonic event, thus explaining a
higher continental fingerprint in the sediments
(Hendriks et al., 1988). Illites of Jurassic clay-rich

units have generally high crystallinity, which is

probably due to a pressure and temperature increase
during the tectonically active period referred to. A
tectonic control on changes of illite crystallinity,
independent of lithology and depth of burial, is
often suggested (Fernandez-Caliani & Galan, 1992;
Roberts et al., 1991; Alonso-Azcarate et al., 1997).

Lower Cretaceous clay-rich units

The majority of Lower Cretaceous sedimentation
took place in carbonate-rich environments, varying
from lagoonal to marine, along three transgressiveregressive cycles that were twice interrupted (late
Berriasian and Barremian) due to compressive
tectonics. As a consequence, gaps on the stratigraphic record arise in the Western Algarve and
siliciclastic fluvial discharges due to destabilized
terranes occurred in the Central Algarve (Sobral
Fm.) and Eastern Algarve (shales, arenites and
conglomerates of Wealden facies).
The clay fraction of siliciclastic clay-rich units,
consisting mainly of illite and kaolinite, suggests a
strong continental influence. Illite is most likely a
detrital mineral, indicating active mechanical
erosion of the source area and limited soil
formation, whereas kaolinite is usually a residual
mineral formed due to leaching of most cations
from pre-existing rocks under humid, tropical to
subtropical conditions (Chamley, 1989). The
association illite-kaolinite-goethite has been interpreted following Millot (1964) as a siderolithic
facies related to erosion and transport of laterites in
tropical climates. Indeed, during the major regression of the Lower Cretaceous, vast areas were
exposed to intense chemical weathering under
humid conditions, resulting in the formation of
abundant kaolinite all over Western Europe
(Molina-Ballestreros et al., 1997; Blanc-Valleron
& Thiry, 1997). However, the predominance of
illite in the samples studied suggests the hydrolysis
was not extreme. The presence of vermiculite in a
few samples points to pedogenetic degradation of
chlorite under continental influence (Hendriks et
al., 1988) and the occurrence of mixed-layer illitesmectite and illite-vermiculite indicate some degradation of illite.
The Late Aptian marl sample of the Luz Fm. has
higher illite/kaolinite proportions than the siliciclastic facies, suggesting more intense mechanical
weathering processes in the source area than the
chemical processes. This is probably related to

Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve Basin

lower precipitation rates and a semi-arid to arid

setting in combination with tectonically enhanced
erosion of Palaeozoic rocks (Heimhofer et al.,
2008), due to progressive acceleration of the
Algarve Basin subsidence by the expansion of the
North Atlantic during the Middle Aptian to Albian
period (Rey, 1986).

Neogene clay-rich units

During the Early Cenozoic, the first Alpine
tectonic movements together with the drying of
the climate promoted physical weathering of
kaolinite palaeosols, causing the onset of the most
important detrital discharge in Western Europe,
which was not synchronous everywhere. The input
of abundant kaolinite to sedimentary basins
occurred several million years after the formation
of thick kaolinitic profiles on the continent, and at
the time of its reworking the climate was no longer
warm and wet, but had well-defined dry seasons
(Thiry, 2000; Simon-Coincon et al., 1997).
The main source area of sediments to the Algarve
Cenozoic basin was the siderolithic succession
(kaolinite-rich) developed during the Cretaceous,
which explains the kaolinite enrichment in the
Miocene sediments from the Cacela formation. This
unit was deposited at low energy in a confined
shallow marine environment during the beginning of
a sea level decrease after an extensive transgression
(Cachao, 1995b; Cachao et al., 1998). The smectite
found in a high proportion of the samples studied
from this unit seems to be of marine origin (Hendriks
et al., 1988). Hence, the clay mineral association of
Miocene clays can be explained by both marine
control, represented by smectite neoformation, and
continental control, with illite and kaolinite carried
out by the rivers. The same illite-kaolinite-smectite
association found in the Betic Cordilleras (SE Spain)
sediments was attributed to karstification and
pedogenesis in the source areas, suggesting marine
deposition punctually affected by local emerging
areas (Palomo, 1987; Vera et al., 1989).
The Pleistocene (sands and gravel from the FaroQuarteira unit) and Holocene clay-rich sediments
(gravel and terrace units) consist mainly of detrital
minerals (illite and kaolinite), indicating that
sedimentation was essentially continental.
Glaciations and the consequent the sea level
fluctuations played a major role during this period
and variations in the clay mineralogy may be linked
to short-term palaeoclimatic changes (Thiry &

79

Jacquin, 1993; Gibson et al., 2000) and subsequent

different degrees of chemical weathering of the
source area.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
Clay-rich rock units of the Algarve have a wide
range of grain-size distributions, being predominantly classified as silty clays and clayey silts. In
general, the Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments and
the Cenozoic units are richer in the sand fraction.
The detailed mineralogical study presented here
enabled us to distinguish two main types of clayrich rocks units for the Algarve region: (1) noncalcareous clays, consisting mainly of quartz and
clay minerals, with goethite as the typical Fe-rich
phase; in general it corresponds to clay-rich
sediments of Carboniferous, Neogene and
Quaternary age and to Cretaceous (Berriasian and
Barremian age) siliciclastic clays; and (2) calcareous clays, which in agreement with the type of
carbonate can be separated into: (a) calcite-rich
clays, which are characterized by high percentage
of calcite and include the marly clays from the
Middle and Upper Jurassic; and (b) dolomite-rich
clays, which are characterized by variable proportions of clay minerals and quartz, with the
ubiquitous presence of hematite and may contain
minor calcite; they correspond to the clay-rich
sediments of Triassic and Lower Jurassic
(Hettangian) age. Plagioclase, K-feldspar and Tioxide (most frequently anatase) were observed as
accessory phases in almost every sample analysed.
Illite is the most abundant clay mineral and is
most probably detrital, formed by the weathering of
preexisting rocks, as well as Fe-chlorite that occurs
in small amounts in some units, suggesting incipient
chemical alteration in the adjacent continental areas
due to the prevailing arid to semi-arid climatic
conditions. Kaolinite is generally a subordinate
phase in the Mesozoic clay-rich units, except in
the Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments where it is
more abundant. In Cenozoic sediments, kaolinite is
as abundant as illite, which seems to be a
consequence of the mechanical erosion of kaolinitic
profiles formed during the Cretaceous under
tropical to sub-tropical conditions. The presence
of Mg-rich minerals (Mg-chlorite, Mg-smectite,
corrensite, sepiolite and palygorskite) in Triassic
and Lower Jurassic units signalizes the rifting phase
where a shallow marine environment with strong
evaporitic conditions dominated. The marine

80

M. J. Trindade et al.

influence on clay mineralogy due to subsidence and

development of the basin was mainly indicated by
the presence of neoformed smectite. However, in
the volcano-sedimentary complex, smectite is most
likely to be associated with hydrothermal alteration
of volcanic ashes.
Changes in the proportion of detrital and
neoformed minerals in the clay-rich rock units
reflect the control of synsedimentary tectonic
movements and fluctuations in sea level during
their deposition. Source area composition, palaeoclimate and different degrees of weathering also
contributed to differences in the clay mineralogy.
The study of clay mineral associations, in addition
to bulk mineralogy performed in this work,
contributes to a better understanding of the regional
geology and evolutionary history of the Algarve
Basin, in association with previous sedimentological, palaeontological and structural studies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Financial support for this work was provided by the

Foundation for Science and Technology as a PhD grant
(SFRH/BD/11020/2002) to M.J. Trindade, which is
gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to
thank the reviewers for comments, suggestions and
corrections that improved the manuscript.
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