The data set contains raw datafiles from X-ray diffraction analysis. The XRD data was collected in 2017 on 77 samples from core E-8X, with a sample spacing of ~8 cm across 6 m total core length. The attached file includes a raw data compilation of relative abundances of clay minerals such as smectite, illite, kaolinite, and are utilised to decribe oceanographic changes in the central North Sea during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.