Mica, smectite, and chlorite are the characteristic clay minerals in about 120 Recent sediment samples of Lake Constance as shown by semiquantitative clay mineral analysis. Interstratified clay minerals are practically absent, kandites were not found. The decrease of the smectite/mica ratio from West to East is apparently due to the dominance of the mica-chlorite assemblage of the Rhine river derived from the northern Alps in the eastern part of the lake. With increasing distance from the delta of the Rhine river, the Tertiary Molasse clay minerals (mainly mica and smectite) derived from rocks surrounding the lake become more abundant. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.
