The products of explosive eruptions in the form of volcanic ash (tephra), after being transported for long distances by wind, are settled and altered to bentonites (smectite-rich volcanogenic clay rocks) in early diagenesis. In late diagenesis, these bentonites are transformed into K-bentonites by chemical modification and K-fixation with progressive illitization and then finally into metabentonites by low-grade metamorphism (Fortey et al., 1996). During diagenesis and very low-grade metamorphism, due to potassium enrichment, smectite transforms to mixed-layer illite-smectite (I-S) and then illite in K-bentonites (Weaver, 1953;Nadeau et al., 1985;Merriman and Roberts, 1990).The discovery of K-bentonites dates back as early as the 1920s. Since then, their geologic importance has been revealed and proven by ongoing interdisciplinary research. Nelson (1921Nelson ( , 1922 originally denoted the pyroclastic nature of some rocks in the Paleozoic rock system in the eastern part of the United States. Following Nelson's original remarks, Allen (1932), based on the crescent-shaped shard structures and the presence of sanidine, apatite, and euhedral zircon crystals, evidenced the volcanic origin of those deposits. Rosenkrans (1934) and Kay (1944aKay ( , 1944b were the first to use bentonites for stratigraphic correlations. The significance of K-bentonites as widespread marker beds has been recognized recently since they are also datable using fission track and U/Pb dating of zircons, K/Ar, and Ar/Ar of amphibole, biotite, and sanidine (Kolata et al., 1996).Worldwide research activities on K-bentonites have diversified aims such as discovering localities and studying their mineralogical, petrographic, and