Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:16:00.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hydrothermal Treatment of Smectite, Illite, and Basalt to 460°C: Comparison of Natural with Hydrothermally Formed Clay Minerals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Yu-Chyi Yau ,
Donald R. Peacor ,
Eric J. Essene ,
Jung H. Lee ,
Lung-Chuan Kuo  and
Michael A. Cosca
Yu-Chyi Yau
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Donald R. Peacor
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Eric J. Essene
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Jung H. Lee*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Lung-Chuan Kuo*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Michael A. Cosca
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
*
2Present address: Department of Geology, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea.
3Present address: 6467 R&D West, Conoco, Ponca City, Oklahoma 74601.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Wyoming bentonite, Fithian illite, and basalt from the Umtanum Formation, Washington, were treated hydrothermally at 200° to 460°C and 260 to 500 bars for 71 to 584 days. No change was detected for the bentonite and basalt, except for the loss of calcite and exchange of Ca for K in the smectite and the growth of a small amount of smectite (presumably from a glass phase) in the basalt. Calcite in the initial bentonite may have stabilized the smectite by Ca/K exchange; thus, if the latter is used as a packing material in a nuclear waste repository, limestone should be added. No change was detected in the illite samples treated <300°C; however, at 360°C, euhedral crystals of berthierine and illite grew at the expense of original illite/smectite, apparently by a solution-crystallization process. Significant changes involving the dissolution of starting phases and the formation of illite and chlorite were also detected in mixtures of basalt and bentonite at 400°C; at temperatures <400°C, no changes were observed.

The newly formed mineral phases (berthierine, illite, and chlorite) observed by transmission electron microscopy showed euhedral to subhedral shapes. These shapes are the same as those observed in hydrothermally altered sediments from the Salton Sea field and different from those from burial metamorphic environments, such as Gulf Coast sediments. The reaction mechanism is apparently the dissolution of reactants followed by the crystallization of products from solution, without conservation of structural elements of the reactants. Reactions apparently required temperatures greater than those for analogous changes in nature, suggesting that the degree of reaction was controlled by kinetics. The lack of dissolution in experimental runs at low temperatures, however, does not necessarily imply long-term stabilities of these clay minerals.

Keywords

BasaltBerthierineHydrothermalIlliteSmectiteStability
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , August 1987 , pp. 241 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © 1987, The Clay Minerals Society

Footnotes

1

Contribution No. 430 from the Mineralogical Laboratory, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

References

Ahn, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1985 Transmission electron microscopic study of diagenetic chlorite in Gulf Coast argillaceous sediments Clays & Clay Minerals 33 228 – 237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahn, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1985 TEM study of mineralogy and diagenesis of phyllosilicates in volcanogenic sediments from the Southland Syncline, New Zealand Geol. Soc. America, Abstr. Prog. 17 510.Google Scholar
Ahn, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1986 Transmission and analytical electron microscopy of the smectite-to-illite transition Clays & Clay Minerals 34 165 – 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahn, J. H., Peacor, D. R. and Essene, E. J., 1986 Cation-diffusion induced characteristic beam damage in transmission electron microscope images of micas Ultramicroscopy 19 375 – 382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apted, M. J. and Myers, J., 1982 Comparison of the hydrothermal stability of simulated spent fuel and borosilicate glass in a basaltic environment Rockwell Hartford Operations Rept. .Google Scholar
Bailey, S. W., Brindley, G. W. and Brown, G., 1980 Structures of layer silicates Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and their X-ray Identification London Mineralogical Society 1 – 123.Google Scholar
Blake, D. F., Allard, L. F., Peacor, D. R. and Bigelow, W. C., 1980 Biomineralization in crinoid echinoderms: Characterization of crinoid skeletal elements using TEM and STEM microanalysis Scanning Electron Microscopy 1981 3 321 – 328.Google Scholar
Brindley, G. W., 1982 Chemical compositions of berthier-ines—A review Clays & Clay Minerals 30 153 – 155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burst, J. F. Jr. and Swineford, A., 1959 Post-diagenetic clay mineral environmental relationships in the Gulf Coast Eocene Clays and Clay Minerals, Proc. 6th Natl. Conf, Berkeley, California, 1957 New York Pergamon Press 327 – 341.Google Scholar
Cho, M. and Fawcett, J. J., 1986 A kinetic study of clinochlore and its high temperature equivalent forsterite-cor-dierite-spinel at 2 kbar water pressure Amer. Mineral. 71 68 – 78.Google Scholar
Chou, I.-M., 1986 Permeability of precious metals to hydrogen at 2kb total pressure and elevated temperatures Amer. J. Sci. 286 638 – 658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elders, W. A. and Moody, J. B., 1985 The Salton Sea geothermal field as a natural analog for the near-field in a salt high-level nuclear waste repository The Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, Proc. Materials Research Society Symp. 44 565 – 572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, J. E., 1982 Inorganic Chemistry and the Earth New York Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Frey, M., 1970 The step from diagenesis to metamorphism in pelitic rocks during Alpine orogenesis Sedimentology 15 261 – 279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillery, F. H., 1959 The X-ray study of synthetic Mg-Al serpentines and chlorites Amer. Mineral. 44 143 – 149.Google Scholar
Howard, J. J. and Roy, D. M., 1985 Development of layer charge and kinetics of experimental smectite alteration Clays & Clay Minerals 33 81 – 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E. V., Hower, M. E. and Perry, E. A., 1976 Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediment: 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 87 725 – 737.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A., 1983 Potassium fixation by clay minerals during hydrothermal treatment Clays & Clay Minerals 27 393 – 401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knipe, R. J., 1979 Chemical changes during slaty cleavage development Bull. Miner. 102 206 – 209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komarneni, S. and Roy, R., 1980 Hydrothermal transformations in candidate overpack materials and their effects on cesium and strontium sorption Nucl. Tech. 54 118 – 122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kossovskaya, A. G. and Drits, V. A., 1970 The variability of micaceous minerals in sedimentary rocks Sedimentology 15 83 – 101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuo, L. C., Lee, J. H., Essene, E. J. and Peacor, D. R., 1986 Occurrence, chemistry and origin of immiscible silicate glasses in a tholeiitic basalt: A TEM/AEM study Contrib. Miner. Petrol. 94 90 – 98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1985 Ordered 1:1 interstratification of illite and chlorite: A transmission and analytical electron microscopy study Clays & Clay Minerals 33 463 – 467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. H., Ahn, J. and Peacor, D. R., 1985 Textures in layered silicates: Progressive changes through diagenesis and low-temperature metamorphism J. Sed. Petrol. 55 532 – 540.Google Scholar
Lee, J. H., Peacor, D. R., Lewis, D. D. and Wintsch, R. P., 1984 Chlorite-illite/muscovite interlayered and inter-stratified crystals: A TEM-AEM study Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 88 372 – 385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. H., Peacor, D. R., Lewis, D. D. and Wintsch, R. P., 1986 Evidence for syntectonic crystallization for the mudstone to slate transition at Lehigh Gap, Pennsylvania J. Struct. Geol. 8 767 – 780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, D. and Hower, J., 1967 High-grade diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism of illite in the Precambrian Belt Series Amer. Mineral. 52 843 – 857.Google Scholar
McCarthy, G. J., White, W. B., Roy, R., Scheetz, B. E., Komarneni, S., Smith, D. K. and Roy, D. M., 1978 Inter-actions between nuclear waste and surrounding rock Nature 273 216 – 217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muffler, L. J. P. and White, D. E., 1969 Active metamorphism of Upper Cenozoic sediments in the Salton Sea Geo-thermal field and the Salton Trough, southeastern California Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 80 157 – 182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, B. W. and Roy, R., 1958 Synthesis of the chlorites and their structural and chemical constitution Amer. Mineral. 43 707 – 725.Google Scholar
Page, R. H., 1980 Partial interlayers in phyllosilicates studied by transmission electron microscopy Contrib. Miner. Petrol. 75 309 – 314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, R. and Wenk, H. R., 1979 Phyllosilicate alteration of plagioclase studied by transmission electron microscopy Geology 7 393 – 397.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, E. and Hower, J., 1970 Burial diagenesis in Gulf Coast pelitic sediments Clays & Clay Minerals 18 165 – 177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savage, D. and Chapman, N. A., 1982 Hydrothermal behavior of simulated waste-glass and waste-rock interactions under repository conditions Chem. Geology 36 59 – 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, B., 1973 Phase equilibria studies in the system MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O: Chlorites and associated minerals Mineral. Mag. 39 291 – 312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, B. and Hower, J., 1963 Petrological significance of illite polymorphism in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks Amer. Mineral. 48 1239 – 1254.Google Scholar
Yau, Y. C., Peacor, D. R. and McDowell, S. D., 1987 Smectite-to-illite reactions in Salton Sea shales: A transmission and analytical electron microscopy study J. Sed. Petrol. 57 335 – 342.Google Scholar
Yoder, H. S., 1952 The MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O system and the related metamorphic facies Amer. J. Sci. Bowen 569 – 627.Google Scholar