| Summary: | This is the first attempt to provide a general mineralogical and geochemical survey of natural Ca<sub>2</sub>SiO<sub>4</sub>-bearing combustion metamorphic (CM) rocks produced by annealing and decarbonation of bioproductive Maastrichtian oil shales in the Hatrurim Basin (Negev Desert, Israel). We present a synthesis of data collected for fifteen years on thirty nine minerals existing as fairly large grains suitable for analytical examination. The Hatrurim Ca<sub>2</sub>SiO<sub>4</sub>-bearing CM rocks, which are natural analogs of industrial cement clinker, have been studied comprehensively, with a focus on several key issues: major- and trace-element compositions of the rocks and their sedimentary precursors; mineral chemistry of rock-forming phases; accessory mineralogy; incorporation of heavy metals and other trace elements into different phases of clinker-like natural assemblages; role of trace elements in stabilization/destabilization of Ca<sub>2</sub>SiO<sub>4</sub> polymorphic modifications; mineralogical diversity of Ca<sub>2</sub>SiO<sub>4</sub>-bearing CM rocks and trace element partitioning during high-temperature–low-pressure anhydrous sintering. The reported results have implications for mineral formation and element partitioning during high-temperature–low-pressure combustion metamorphism of trace element-loaded bituminous marine chalky sediments (“oil shales”) as well as for the joint effect of multiple elements on the properties and hydration behavior of crystalline phases in industrial cement clinkers.
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