Clay mineral provinces in tidal mud flats at Germany's North Sea coast with illite K–Ar ages potentially modified by biodegradation

Mineralogical studies, chemical analyses and K–Ar dating were carried out on clay fractions from tidal mud flats along the Lower Saxony coast and its bays to identify material sources and sedimentary processes at this dynamic interface between air, land and sea.From the coast into the bays, sediments are enriched in fine-grained smectite relative to the coarser grained illite, chlorite and kaolinite, due to the weakening of the tidal current energy in the bays. In addition, the study area can be divided into two provinces on the basis of the illite K/Rb ratios and Mg contents. To the west [Schiermonnikoog, Dollart, Ley Bay up to Norderney island], longshore currents carry suspensions from the Belgian and Dutch coasts; to the east [from Langeoog island, Jade Bay to the Helgoland mud area] suspensions from the Elbe and Weser rivers are mixed with submarine reworked glacial sediments, whereas the portion of longshore current suspensions from the west decreases, becoming negligible in the Helgoland mud area off the Elbe and Weser estuaries. The illite K–Ar data vary considerably and fail as source indicators due to differential settling and mixing of the clay material and probably to Ar loss from illite by biodegradation during digestive processes. Only further offshore, outside the zone of dynamic sediment dispersion, do the K–Ar data fit provenance patterns.