Clay minerals and their implications for Late Quaternary palaeoclimate investigation: A case study in Pontian, Johor
DescriptionBulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Volume 73, May 2022, pp. 91 - 103 Clay minerals and their implications for Late Quaternary palaeoclimate investigation: A case study in Pontian, JohorAbdul Hadi Hashim1,*, Habibah Jamil1, Ramlan Omar2 1 Geology Programme, Faculty of Science and Technology, 43600 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Abstract: Paleoclimate during Quaternary can be inferred from clay minerals composition in the coastal deposit acquired from the west coast of Johor, wherein this particular region has been linked with the few scholarly efforts delineating the field. This present study examined several core materials sourced from Pontian, Johor, mainly due to their almost entirely fine-grained sedimentary sequence suitable for high-resolution clay mineral assessment. Accordingly, semi-quantitative clay minerals assemblages were obtained by employing a series of measurement repetitions of air-drying, glycolation, and heating up to 350 °C and 550 °C on the sample conditions via X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. These assemblages were found to be predominantly kaolinite and illite in nature, apart from the presence of minor chlorite and smectite possibly sourced from the tuffaceous deep water deposit and granitic intrusive rock in central Johor. In line with this, stratigraphic clay mineral records revealed that the Late Quaternary experienced climatic changes between warm and humid conditions, whereas drier conditions were correlated to Greenlandian and Northgrippian sub-epoch of Holocene. Keywords: Clay minerals, Holocene, paleoclimate, Quaternary, stratigraphy
Kata kunci: Mineral lempung, Holosen, iklim kuno, Kuaterner, stratigrafi DOI: https://doi.org/10.7186/bgsm73202208 0126-6187; 2637-109X / Published by the Geological Society of Malaysia. |