Provenance, genesis and paleogeographical implications of microminerals occurring in sedimentary rocks of the Jordan Valley area

One of the foremost purposes of this study is to establish whether a relationship exists between formation of microminerals and conditions in sedimentation basins and on the interland. Existence of such a relationship would make it possible to draw conclusions about the paleogeography and the paleoclimate.
This study includes under microminerals those crystalline constituents which, due to their small sizes, cannot be identified by means of light microscopy. Such fine-grained minerals have been identified by means of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopical investigation mainly. Of the formations occurring in the area investigated - the Jordan Rift Valley and adjoining areas - primarily the microminerals were investigated in the clay fractions of the HCl insoluble residue of marls and limestones dating from the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene and of fluviatile and lacustrine sediments dating from the Neogene and Quaternary. The micromineralogical investigation is aimed at especially the study of the clay minerals palygorskite, smectite, kandite and illite and at fine grained anatase and quartz. An attempt has been made to establish whether these minerals occurred in the sediments as detrital or authigenic constituents. Investigation to this effect has to precede a paleogeographical and paleoclimatological interpretation.