Diagenetic and environmental control of the clay mineralogy, organic matter and stable isotopes (C, O) of Jurassic (Pliensbachian-lowermost Toarcian) sediments of the Rodiles section (Asturian Basin, Northern Spain)

Clay mineralogical and geochemical analyses (δ18Ocarb, and paired carbonate and organic matter carbon isotope), completed by the characterization of organic matter, have been performed on the Pliensbachian sediments exposed on the Rodiles section (Asturian Basin, Northern Spain). The objectives were to precise the Pliensbachian climate evolution at a relatively low paleolatitude of the Tethyan domain by comparison with previously published high-resolution clay mineralogical and geochemical data from the NW Tethyan domain (e.g. Paris Basin and Cardigan Bay Basin, West Wales). The clay mineral assemblages are dominantly composed of illite and illite-smectite mixed-layers (I–S) associated with minor proportions of chlorite and kaolinite. Smectites are not identified what may result either to their absence at the time of sedimentation or to their progressive illitization due to the burial diagenesis. Rock-Eval data show that organic matter reaching more than 5% in black-shale horizons is thermally mature with Tmax comprised between 444 and 454 °C indicating that the section is in the oil window and that the burial temperature reached or exceeded 80–90 °C. The low δ18Obulk values comprised between −3 and −6‰ clearly results from a diagenetic influence (thermal effect due to burial) but their fluctuations compared with δ18O measured on well-preserved belemnites guards show that the overall trend is however preserved.