Abstract: There is no consensus about the rate and style of clay mineral diagenesis in progressively buried sandstones v. interbedded mudstones. The diagenetic evolution of interbedded Miocene sandstones and mudstones from the Vienna Basin (Austria) has therefore been compared using core-based studies, petrography, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. There was a common provenance for the coarse- and fine-grained sediments, and the primary depositional environment of the host sediment had no direct effect on illitization. The sandstones are mostly lithic arkoses dominated by framework grains of quartz, altered feldspars and carbonate rock fragments. Sandstone porosity has been reduced by quartz overgrowths and calcite cement; their pore-filling authigenic clay minerals consist of mixed-layer illite–smectite, illite, kaolinite and chlorite. In sandstones, smectite illitization progresses with depth; at 2150 m there is a transition from randomly interstratified to regular interstratified illite–smectite. The overall mineralogy of mudstones is surprisingly similar to the sandstones. However, for a given depth, feldspars are more altered to kaolinite, and smectite illitization is more advanced in sandstones than in mudstones. The higher permeability of sandstones allowed faster movement of material and pore fluid necessary for illitization and feldspar alteration than in mudstones. The significance of this work is that it has shown that open-system diagenesis is important for some clay mineral diagenetic reactions in sandstones, while closed-system diagenesis seems to operate for clay mineral diagenesis in mudstones.

The moat of the 85-km-diameter and 35.3-Ma-old Chesapeake Bay impact structure (USA) was drilled at Eyreville Farm in 2005–2006 as part of an International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)–U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilling project. The Eyreville drilling penetrated postimpact sediments and impactites, as well as crystalline basement-derived material, to a total depth of 1766 m. We present petrographic observations on 43 samples of suevite, impact melt rock, polymict lithic impact breccia, cataclastic gneiss, and clasts in suevite, from the impact breccia section from 1397 to 1551 m depth in the Eyreville B drill core. Suevite samples have a fine-grained clastic matrix and contain a variety of mineral and rock clasts, including sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous lithologies. Six subunits (U1–U6, from top to bottom) are distinguished in the impact breccia section based on abundance of different clasts, melt particles, and matrix; the boundaries between the subunits are generally gradational. Sedimentary clasts are dominant in most subunits (especially in U1, but also in U3, U4, and U6). There are two melt-rich subunits (U1 and U3), and there are two melt-poor subunits with predominantly crystalline clasts (U2 and U5). The lower part (subunits U5 and U6), which has large blocks of cataclastic gneiss and rare melt particles, probably represents ground-surge material. Subunit U1 possibly represents fallback material, since it contains shard-like melt particles that were solidified before incorporation into the breccia. The melt-poor, crystalline clast–rich subunit U2 could have been formed by slumping of material, probably from the central uplift or from the margin of the transient crater. Melt particles are most abundant near the top of the impact breccia section (above 1409 m) and around 1450 m, where the suevite grades into impact melt rock. Five different types of melt particles have been recognized: (1) clear colorless to brownish glass; (2) melt altered to fine-grained phyllosilicate minerals; (3) recrystallized silica melt; (4) melt with microlites; and (5) dark-brown melt. Proportions of matrix and melt in the suevite are highly variable (~2–67 vol% and 1–67 vol%, respectively; the remainder consists of lithic clasts). Quartz grains in suevite commonly show planar fractures (PFs) and/or planar deformation features (PDFs; 1 or 2 sets, rarely more); some PDFs are decorated. On average, ~16 rel% of quartz grains in suevite samples are shocked (i.e., show PFs and/or PDFs). Sedimentary clasts (e.g., graywacke or sandstone) and polycrystalline quartz clasts have relatively higher proportions of shocked quartz grains, whereas quartz grains in schist and gneiss clasts rarely show shock effects. Rare feldspar grains with PDFs and mica with kink banding were observed. Ballen quartz was noted in melt-rich samples. Evidence of hydrothermal alteration, namely, the presence of smectite and secondary carbonate veins, was found especially in the lower parts of the impact breccia section.