Comparison of Organo-Clay Complex in Three Sedimentary Environments

The sediments formed in different sedimentary environments were collected for the comparative study of organo-clay complex.The clay fractions were separated from the bulk sediments and then were processed to extract the organo-clay component.The organo-clay complexes were characterized in terms of clay mineral and organic elemental compositions by using elemental analysis and XRD.The results show that elemental compositions of organic matter are different between three sedimentary environments,whereas the clay minerals are dominated by illite,and kaolinite and chlorite are subordinates.According to the organic elemental compositions and the compound degree of organo-clay complex,we deduce that the shallow-marine sedimentary environment experienced stronger early diagnesis,which results in the fact that the organic matters were tightly combined with clay and difficult to release.In comparison,the complex of organic matter with clay in lake sedimentary environment is weak and organic matters are easy to be extracted by alkaline solutions.