Thin spessartine-quartzite layers (coticules) are interstratified with Ordovician (Salmian) shales of the Venn-Stavelot Massif, Ardennes. These coticules indicate sudden interruptions in the sedimentation process of the shales. The lower contact of the coticules represents an abrupt change in the chemical composition from the underlying shales. In contrast, the upper limit of the coticules is chemically more diffuse. Phase relations of the phengitebearing spessartine-quartzites including paragonite, chlorite, and chloritoid or kaolinite as subordinate phases give evidence for a manganese-montmorillonitic source material of the coticules. This is in good agreement with the internal structures observed in the coticule layers (swelling and sliding effects, Liesegang structures). Since there is a positive correlation between the oxidation ratio of the enclosing shales and the chemical composition of the coticules, it is proposed that the source material of the coticules developed in situ by halmyrolysis out of tuffs. High oxidation ratios of the shales with iron fixed in the trivalent state but with divalent and thus mobile manganese led to the formation of coticule starting material, dominantly a manganese-montmorillonite. Halmyrolysis products formed under low oxidation ratio conditions of the enclosing shales are characterized by hydrosilicates rich in iron. The Obrochishte manganese deposit, Bulgaria, is discussed as a nonmetamorphic equivalent of the coticules of the Ardennes.