CLAY MINERALS IN SURFACE SEDIMENTS OF LUAN RIVER ESTUARY

Surface sediments from the Luan River Estuary were analyzed with XRD for clay mineralogy. Results show that illite (46-61%, 56% on average) dominates the samples with smectite (15-36%, 25% on average) and chlotite (8-14%, 11% on average) as the second and kaolinite (5-11%,8% on average is) the lowest. The assemblage of illite-smectite-chlotite-kaolinite is the dominant clay minerals assemblage in the area. The clay minerals in the surface sediments of the Luan River Estuary are mainly terrigenous in origin. The Bohai Bay circulation may bring some materials from the Yellow River to the region. At the same time, the study area also acts as the material source for the Liaodong Bay and Northern Bohai Bay.