Abstract
Rocks described as “chert” from the North Atlantic, recovered during the Deep Sea Drilling Project, consist of quartz or disordered cristobalite. They occur in a wide variety of sediment types; only a few are associated with radiolarian oozes. Some of the cristobalitic cherts contain abundant clinoptilolite or palygorskite and sepiolite.
The cherts have a variety of origins. They are most probably replacement cherts at sites 5, 6, and 7; direct alteration products of radiolarian ooze at site 8; and either alteration products of volanic glass or direct precipitates from hydrothermal solutions at sites 9 and 12. Evidence for these diverse origins is preserved as unusual mineral assemblages in these geologically young rocks.
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Calvert, S.E. Composition and origin of North Atlantic deep sea cherts. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 33, 273–288 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382569
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382569