Lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt
Not to be confused with
Maerl
.
Marl
Scala dei Turchi
coastal marl formation, southern
Sicily
Marl
is an earthy material rich in
carbonate minerals
,
clays
, and
silt
. When
hardened into rock
, this becomes
marlstone
. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of
algae
.
Marl makes up the lower part of the
cliffs of Dover
, and the
Channel Tunnel
follows these marl layers between France and the United Kingdom. Marl is also a common sediment in post-
glacial lakes
, such as the marl ponds of the northeastern United States.
Marl has been used as a
soil conditioner
and neutralizing agent for acid soil and in the manufacture of
cement
.
Description
[
edit
]
Scheme of the transitional lithotypes from mud (or mudstone) to lime (or limestone), illustrating the definition of marl (marlstone) as a mix of calcium carbonate and clay
Marl or marlstone is a
carbonate
-rich mud or
mudstone
which contains variable amounts of
clays
and
silt
. The term was originally loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay and
calcium carbonate
,
formed under freshwater conditions. These typically contain 35?65% clay and 65?35% carbonate.
The term is today often used to describe
indurated
marine deposits and
lacustrine
(lake)
sediments
which more accurately should be named 'marlstone'.
Marlstone is an indurated (resists crumbling or powdering) rock of about the same composition as marl. This is more correctly described as an earthy or impure
argillaceous
limestone
. It has a blocky
subconchoidal
fracture, and is less
fissile
than
shale
.
The dominant carbonate mineral in most marls is
calcite
, but other carbonate minerals such as
aragonite
or
dolomite
may be present.
Glauconitic marl
is marl containing pellets of
glauconite
, a clay mineral that gives the marl a green color.
Glauconite is characteristic of sediments deposited in marine conditions.
Occurrences
[
edit
]
Geological profile along the tunnel as constructed. For most of its length the tunnel bores through a
chalk marl
stratum (layer)
The lower
stratigraphic
units of the
chalk
cliffs of Dover
consist of a sequence of
glauconitic
marls followed by rhythmically banded limestone and marl layers.
Such alternating cycles of chalk and marl are common in
Cretaceous
beds of northwestern Europe.
The
Channel Tunnel
follows these marl layers between France and the United Kingdom.
Upper
Cretaceous
cyclic sequences in
Germany
and marl?
opal
-rich
Tortonian
-
Messinian
strata in the
Sorbas Basin
related to multiple sea drawdown have been correlated with
Milankovitch
orbital forcing.
Marl as lacustrine sediment is common in post-
glacial lake
-bed sediments.
Chara
, a macroalga also known as stonewort, thrives in shallow lakes with high
pH
and
alkalinity
, where its stems and fruiting bodies become calcified. After the alga dies, the calcified stems and fruiting bodies break down into fine carbonate particles that mingle with silt and clay to produce marl.
Marl ponds of the northeastern United States are often
kettle ponds
in areas of limestone bedrock that become poor in nutrients (
oligotrophic
) due to precipitation of essential
phosphate
. Normal
pond life
is unable to survive, and skeletons of freshwater molluscs such as
Sphaerium
and
Planorbis
accumulate as part of the bottom marl.
In Hungary, Buda Marl is found that was formed in the
Upper Eocene
era. It lies between layers of rock and soil and may be defined it as both "weak rock and strong soil."
Marl is the dominant rock type in the
Vaca Muerta Formation
in Argentina.
Economic geology
[
edit
]
Marl has been used as a
soil conditioner
and neutralizing agent for acid soil
and in the manufacture of
Portland cement
.
Because some marls have a very low
permeability
, they have been exploited for construction of the
Channel Tunnel
between England and France and are being investigated for the storage of
nuclear waste
.
Historical use in agriculture
[
edit
]
Marl is one of the oldest
soil amendments
used in agriculture. In addition to increasing available calcium, marl is valuable for improving
soil structure
and decreasing soil acidity
and thereby making other nutrients more available.
It was used sporadically in Britain beginning in prehistoric times
and its use was mentioned by
Pliny the Elder
in the 1st century.
Its more widespread use from the 16th century on contributed to the early modern agricultural revolution.
However, the lack of a high-energy economy hindered its large-scale use until the
Industrial Revolution
.
Marl was used extensively in Britain, particularly in
Lancashire
, during the 18th century. The marl was normally extracted close to its point of use, so that almost every field had a marl pit, but some marl was transported greater distances by railroad. However, marl was gradually replaced by lime and imported mineral fertilizers early in the 19th century.
A similar historical pattern was seen in Scotland.
Marl was one a few soil amendments available in limited quantities in the southern United States, where soils were generally poor in nutrients, prior to about 1840.
By the late 19th century, marl was being mined on an industrial scale in
New Jersey
and was increasingly being used on a more scientific basis, with marl being classified by grade
and the state geological survey publishing detailed chemical analyses.
Modern agricultural and aquacultural uses
[
edit
]
Marl continues to be used for agriculture into the 21st century, though less frequently.
The rate of application must be adjusted for the reduced content of calcium carbonate versus straight lime, expressed as the calcium carbonate equivalent. Because the carbonate in marl is predominantly calcium carbonate,
magnesium
deficiency may be seen in crops treated with marl if they are not also supplemented with magnesium.
Marl has been used in
Pamlico Sound
to provide a suitable artificial substrate for
oysters
in a reef-like environment.
Portland cement
[
edit
]
Marl has been used in the manufacture of Portland cement.
It is abundant and yields better physical and mechanical properties than metakaolin as a supplementary cementitious material
and can be
calcined
at a considerably lower temperature.
Civil engineering
[
edit
]
The Channel Tunnel was constructed in the West Melbury Marly Chalk, a
geological formation
containing marl beds. This formation was chosen because of its very low permeability, absence of
chert
, and lack of fissures found in overlying formations. The underlying Glauconitic Marl is easily recognizable in core samples and helped establish the right level for excavating the tunnel.
Marl soil has poor engineering properties, particularly when alternately wetted and dried.
The soils can be stabilized by adding
pozzolan
(
volcanic ash
) to the soil.
Nuclear waste storage
[
edit
]
Some marl beds have a very low permeability and are under consideration for use in the storage of
nuclear waste
. One such proposed storage site is the Wellenberg in central Switzerland.
Marl lakes
[
edit
]
Deposition from a Marl lake inside a sheltered paint can, taken from
Siseebakwet Lake
A marl lake is a lake whose bottom sediments include large deposits of marl.
They are most often found in areas of recent glaciation
and are characterized by alkaline water, rich in dissolved calcium carbonate, from which carbonate minerals are deposited.
Marl lakes have frequently been dredged or mined for marl, often used for manufacturing
Portland cement
.
However, they are regarded as ecologically important,
and are vulnerable to damage by
silting
,
nutrient pollution
,
drainage
, and
invasive species
. In Britain, only the marl lakes of the more remote parts of northern Scotland are likely to remain pristine into the near future.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- New Jersey State Centennial Board (1877).
Report of the New Jersey Commissioners on the Centennial Exhibition
. Naar, Day, & Naar, printers. p.
203
. Retrieved
2017-01-06
.
- Geological Survey of New Jersey (1880).
Annual Report of the State Geologist
. p.
184
. Retrieved
2017-01-06
.
- Geological Survey of New Jersey (1887).
Annual Report of the State Geologist
. pp. 193?.
- Woll, F. W. (1896).
"The Marls of Wisconsin"
.
Thirteenth Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin
. Vol. 13. Madison, WI: Democrat Printing Company. p. 295
. Retrieved
2017-01-06
.
- Bahadori, Hadi; Hasheminezhad, Araz; Taghizadeh, Farshad (February 2019). "Experimental Study on Marl Soil Stabilization Using Natural Pozzolans".
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
.
31
(2): 04018363.
doi
:
10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002577
.
S2CID
139402321
.
- Blatt, Harvey; Tracy, Robert J. (1996).
Petrology : igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic
(2nd ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman.
ISBN
0716724383
.
- Boggs, Sam (2006).
Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy
(4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 172.
ISBN
0131547283
.
- Bristow, Roger; Mortimore, Rory; Wood, Christopher (January 1997). "Lithostratigraphy for mapping the Chalk of southern England".
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
.
108
(4): 293?315.
Bibcode
:
1997PrGA..108..293B
.
doi
:
10.1016/S0016-7878(97)80014-4
.
- Dodgshon, Robert A. (1978). "Land Improvement in Scottish Farming: Marl and Lime in Roxburghshire and Berwickshire in the Eighteenth Century".
The Agricultural History Review
.
26
(1): 1?14.
CiteSeerX
10.1.1.682.5686
.
JSTOR
40273909
.
- Duston, Nina M.; Owen, Robert M.; Wilkinson, Bruce H. (December 1986). "Water chemistry and sedimentological observations in littlefield lake, michigan: Implications for lacustrine marl deposition".
Environmental Geology and Water Sciences
.
8
(4): 229?236.
Bibcode
:
1986EnGeo...8..229D
.
doi
:
10.1007/BF02524950
.
S2CID
128421594
.
- Harris, C.S.; et al., eds. (1996).
Engineering Geology of the Channel Tunnel
. London: Thomas Telford. p. 57.
ISBN
0-7277-2045-7
.
- EPA Catchments Unit (28 January 2020).
"Lough Carra marl lake - protecting one of Ireland's most unique and threatened habitats"
.
Catchments.ie
. Environmental Protection Agency
. Retrieved
16 February
2021
.
- Frossard, E.; Bunemann, E.; Jansa, J.; Oberson, A.; Feller, C. (2009).
"Concepts and practices of nutrient management in agro-ecosystems: Can we draw lessons from history to design future sustainable agricultural production systems"
(PDF)
.
Die Bodenkultur
.
60
(1): 43?60
. Retrieved
19 March
2022
.
- Gorog, Peter (September 2007).
"Characterization and mechanical properties of the Eocene Buda Marl"
.
Central European Geology
.
50
(3): 241?258.
Bibcode
:
2007CEJGl..50..241G
.
doi
:
10.1556/CEuGeol.50.2007.3.4
.
- Jackson, Julia A., ed. (1997).
Glossary of geology
(Fourth ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute.
ISBN
0922152349
.
- Krijgsman, W. (2001).
"Astrochronology for the Messinian Sorbas basin (SE Spain) and orbital (precessional) forcing for evaporite cyclicity"
(PDF)
.
Sedimentary Geology
.
140
(1?2): 43?60.
Bibcode
:
2001SedG..140...43K
.
doi
:
10.1016/S0037-0738(00)00171-8
.
hdl
:
1874/1632
.
- Lauridsen, B.W.; Surlyk, F. (November 2008). "Benthic faunal response to late Maastrichtian chalk?marl cyclicity at Rørdal, Denmark".
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
.
269
(1?2): 38?53.
Bibcode
:
2008PPP...269...38L
.
doi
:
10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.07.001
.
- Leeder, M. R. (2011).
Sedimentology and sedimentary basins : from turbulence to tectonics
(2nd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN
9781405177832
.
- Mathew, W. M. (1993). "Marling in British Agriculture: A Case of Partial Identity".
The Agricultural History Review
.
41
(2): 97?110.
JSTOR
40274955
.
- Mi??evi?, P. (2020). "Effect of drying and wetting on mechanical characteristics of Eocene flysch marl".
Geotechnical hazards
. Boca Raton. pp. 737?741.
doi
:
10.1201/9781003078173-99
.
ISBN
9781003078173
.
S2CID
229434489
. Retrieved
1 February
2022
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Morse, David; Smith, Michael (2011).
"Marl in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina: From Agriculture to Aquaculture"
.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
.
43
(2): 8
. Retrieved
22 December
2020
.
- Murphy, David H.; Wilkinson, Bruce H. (April 1980). "Carbonate deposition and facies distribution in a central Michigan marl lake".
Sedimentology
.
27
(2): 123?135.
Bibcode
:
1980Sedim..27..123M
.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1365-3091.1980.tb01164.x
.
hdl
:
2027.42/72142
.
- Nesse, William D. (2000).
Introduction to mineralogy
. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
9780195106916
.
- Nourmohamadi, Mohammad Sadi; Abdula, Rzger A.; Albeyati, Fawzi; Sharezwri, Arkan O.; Perot, Edres M.; Jassim, Shamsadin E.; Othman, Nechirvan H. (30 November 2020).
"Green Glauconitic Marl Bed As A Sequence Stratigraphical Key For Interpretation Of Contact Between Qamchuqa And Bekhme Formations In Bekhal Area, Kurdistan Region, NE Iraq"
.
Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia
.
70
(1): 29?38.
doi
:
10.7186/bg70202003
.
S2CID
229385900
.
- Parker, Alan (24 July 2005).
"There's Marl in Them Thar Ponds"
.
Northern Woodlands
. Center for Northern Woodlands Education
. Retrieved
25 September
2020
.
- Pearson, F.J.; Scholtis, A. (2021). "Controls on the chemistry of pore water in a marl of very low permeability".
Water-rock interaction : proceedings of the 8th International Symposium, WRI-8, Vladivostok, Russia, 15-19 August 1995
(1st ed.). London.
doi
:
10.1201/9780203734049-8
.
ISBN
9780203734049
.
S2CID
237834210
. Retrieved
1 February
2022
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Pentecost, Allan (December 2009). "The Marl Lakes of the British Isles".
Freshwater Reviews
.
2
(2): 167?197.
doi
:
10.1608/FRJ-2.2.4
.
S2CID
86157620
.
- Perri, Francesco; Dominici, Rocco; Critelli, Salvatore (March 2015). "Stratigraphy, composition and provenance of argillaceous marls from the Calcare di Base Formation, Rossano Basin (northeastern Calabria)".
Geological Magazine
.
152
(2): 193?209.
Bibcode
:
2015GeoM..152..193P
.
doi
:
10.1017/S0016756814000089
.
S2CID
129302757
.
- Pettijohn, F. J. (1957).
Sedimentary Rocks
(2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers.
OCLC
551748
.
- Rakhimov, Ravil Z.; Rakhimova, Nailia R.; Gaifullin, Albert R.; Morozov, Vladimir P. (May 2017). "Properties of Portland cement pastes enriched with addition of calcined marl".
Journal of Building Engineering
.
11
: 30?36.
doi
:
10.1016/j.jobe.2017.03.007
.
- Rakhimova, Nailia R.; Rakhimov, Ravil Z.; Morozov, Vladimir P.; Gaifullin, Albert R.; Potapova, Ludmila I.; Gubaidullina, Alfiya M.; Osin, Yury N. (July 2018). "Marl-based geopolymers incorporated with limestone: A feasibility study".
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids
.
492
: 1?10.
Bibcode
:
2018JNCS..492....1R
.
doi
:
10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2018.04.015
.
S2CID
102945891
.
- Rankin, Bill; Williams, Ron (2012).
"Channel Tunnel"
.
The Geological Society
. The Geological Society of London
. Retrieved
1 February
2022
.
- Shannon, W.D. (2020).
"
'An excellent improver of the soil': Marl and the landscape of lowland Lancashire"
.
Agricultural History Review
.
68
(2): 141?167
. Retrieved
19 March
2022
.
- Sheridan, Richard C. (1979). "Chemical Fertilizers in Southern Agriculture".
Agricultural History
.
53
(1): 308?18.
JSTOR
3742878.
- Soltani, Abolfazl; Tarighat, Amir; Varmazyari, Masoud (November 2018). "Calcined Marl and Condensed Silica Fume as Partial Replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement".
International Journal of Civil Engineering
.
16
(11): 1549?1559.
doi
:
10.1007/s40999-018-0289-9
.
S2CID
117404684
.
- Warncke, Darryl (10 November 2015).
"Lime for Michigan Soils"
.
MSU Extension Agriculture
. Michigan State University
. Retrieved
26 September
2020
.
- Wiik, Emma; Bennion, Helen; Sayer, Carl D.; Davidson, Thomas A.; Clarke, Stewart J.; McGowan, Suzanne; Prentice, Stephen; Simpson, Gavin L.; Stone, Laura (12 August 2015a).
"The coming and going of a marl lake: multi-indicator palaeolimnology reveals abrupt ecological change and alternative views of reference conditions"
.
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
.
3
.
doi
:
10.3389/fevo.2015.00082
.
- Wiik, Emma; Bennion, Helen; Sayer, Carl D.; Davidson, Thomas A.; McGowan, Suzanne; Patmore, Ian R.; Clarke, Stewart J. (November 2015b).
"Ecological sensitivity of marl lakes to nutrient enrichment: evidence from Hawes Water, UK"
.
Freshwater Biology
.
60
(11): 2226?2247.
doi
:
10.1111/fwb.12650
.
- Winiwarter, Verena; Blum, Winfried E. H. (June 2008). "From marl to rock powder: On the history of soil fertility management by rock materials".
Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
.
171
(3): 316?324.
doi
:
10.1002/jpln.200625070
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Schurrenberger, D., Russell, J. and Kerry Kelts. 2003.
Classification of lacustrine sediments based on sedimentary components
. Journal of Paleolimnology 29: 141?154.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Marl
.
Look up
marl
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.