Characteristics of altered volcanogenic material in connection with geologo-technological problems in the diamondiferous areas of the East Siberian Platform

Abstract

The results of the combined study of the pattern of geodynamic and hypergene changes in volcanogenic material in bedrock and upon transfer provided a basis for a scheme of mineral alteration provoked by the weathering of this type of rock sequences on the East Siberian Platform. Attention is focused on the behaviour of finely dispersed clayey minerals characteristic of various rock types in the above processes. In temperate climatic belts, especially in incomplete weathering profiles, erosion affected eluvial material, which (depending on the degree of alteration) displays distinctive structural-mineralogical characteristics retained upon quiet short-range transfer, upon accumulation in sedimentary basins and upon subsequent minor diagenetic alterations.