Composition, oxygen isotope and crystallisation temperature of clay samples from the Tonga Trench, ODP Site 135-841

This isotopic study has demonstrated an abnormally high crystallisation temperature of the clay minerals with respect to temperature expected in burial diagenesis. Formation temperatures obtained using d18O reach up to 200 °C in a Fe-chlorite-corrensite paragenesis found in the vicinity of basaltic andesite sills intruded into the Miocene tuffs.

The paleothermal flux resulting from the cooling of the sills has produced very low grade contact metamorphism in the Miocene Tonga forearc deposits. The consequence of this was the formation of a large amount of hydrous silicates characterised near the sills by a Fe-clays-analcime mineralogical association.