A detailed study of the mineralogy of the Jurassic detrital sediments of the Betic Cordillera (SE Spain) was needed to resolve problems relating to the environment of deposition. The choice of the marly limestone and marl facies for such a study was appropriate, because these are well represented throughout the Cordillera and consist of the earliest materials deposited after the break-down of the Liassic carbonate platform. Quantitative mineralogical analyses and crystallochemical studies enable the source area to be defined, as well as indicating the likely erosion and weathering processes undergone by the minerals during transport and deposition, and the degree of diagenesis. Four mineral associations were distinguished, permitting a temporal and spatial analysis of the environment of deposition, and the relationship between its mineralogy and the different lithological facies.