WEATHERING AND PHOSPHORITE GENESIS
Yu. N. Zanin
Keywords: Warm humid climate, weathering, phosphorite formation
Pages: 589-595
Abstract
The idea of the relation between phosphorite genesis and weathering is based on the corresponding concepts of N. S. Shatskii. V. P. Kazarinov accepted this idea and substantiated correlation of the epochs of intense phosphorite formation with the epochs of deep chemical weathering. G. I. Bushinskii had a similar, though not quite identical, opinion that phosphorus involved in the formation of phosphorite-bearing deposits and basins is supplied by rivers of the nearby plains in the regions of humid climate. Today many researchers hold to the idea of the significant importance of weathering in phosphorite genesis. This idea has received further support for many global epochs of phosphorite formation (Early Ordovician, Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Miocene, etc.) and is treated as reasonably justified. At the same time, some epochs of deep chemical weathering (e.g., Late Devonian) are characterized by high contents of dispersed phosphorus in rocks, which, however, did not participate in the formation of commercial phosphorite deposits.
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