Mineralogy of the sand size carbonate fraction of some Recent marine terrigenous and carbonate sediments

Abstract A wide variety of marine sediments were examined in order to determine the factors controlling modern carbonate mineral distribution. The sand-sized fraction was utilized exclusively in order to make possible identification of components and to minimize masking effects of non-carbonate material during X-ray diffraction analysis. Factors controlling mineral distribution include the original mineralogical components being formed as well as the nature and extent of alteration processes. These factors are directly related to depth, but show little latitudinal correlation.