Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:07:11.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Weathering of Spodumene to Smectite in a Lateritic Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Balbir Singh  and
R. J. Gilkes
Balbir Singh*
Affiliation:
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, School of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009 Australia
R. J. Gilkes
Affiliation:
Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, School of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009 Australia
*
*Present address: Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767.
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.

Weathering of spodumene in a lateritized pegmatite in Western Australia was studied by investigating in situ samples by electron-beam techniques. The spodumene had mostly altered to smectite. However, some non-crystalline material adjacent to smectite and intermixed with smectite was also observed. No crystallographic orientation between spodumene and smectite was observed by high resolution techniques. The spodumene dissolved to produce etch pits similar to those observed on hornblende grains. The etch pits were almost completely filled with smectite. Most of the Li in the spodumene was lost during its weathering to smectite.

Keywords

Ion-beam thinningNon-crystalline weathering productsSmectiteSpodumeneTransmission electron microscopy
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , October 1993 , pp. 624 - 630
Copyright
Copyright © 1993, The Clay Minerals Society

References

Anand, R. R. and Gilkes, R. J., 1984 Weathering of hornblende, plagioclase and chlorite in meta-dolerite, Australia Geoderma 34 261 – 280 10.1016/0016-7061(84)90043-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Argast, S., 1991 Chlorite vermiculitization and pyroxene etching in an aeolian periglacial sand dune, Allen county, Indiana Clays & Clay Minerals 39 622 – 633 10.1346/CCMN.1991.0390608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banfield, J. F. and Eggleton, R. A., 1990 Analytical transmission electron microscope studies of plagioclase, muscovite, and K-feldspar weathering Clays & Clay Minerals 38 77 – 89 10.1346/CCMN.1990.0380111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basham, I. R., 1974 Mineralogical changes associated with deep weathering of gabbro in Aberdeenshire Clay Miner. 10 189 – 202 10.1180/claymin.1974.010.3.05.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berner, R. A. and Schott, J., 1982 Dissolution of pyroxenes and amphiboles during weathering Science 207 1205 – 1206 10.1126/science.207.4436.1205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berner, R. A., Sjoberg, E. L., Velbel, M. A. and Krom, M. D., 1980 Mechanisms of pyroxene and amphibole weathering II Observation of soil grains A mer. J. Sci. 282 1214 – 1231.Google Scholar
Brindley, G. W., Lemaitre, J. and Newman, A. C. D., 1987 Thermal, oxidation and reduction reactions of clay minerals Chemistry of Clays and Clay Minerals London Mineralogical Society 319 – 370.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Brindley, G. W., Brindley, G. W. and Brown, G., 1980 X-ray diffraction procedures for clay mineral identification Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and Their X-ray Identification London Mineralogical Society 305 – 309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggleton, R. A., 1975 Nontronite topotaxial after heden-bergite Amer. Mineral. 60 1063 – 1068.Google Scholar
Eggleton, R. A. and Boland, J. N., 1982 Weathering of enstatite to talc through a sequence of transitional phases Clays & Clay Minerals 30 11 – 20 10.1346/CCMN.1982.0300102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggleton, Richard A., 1980 High Resolution Electron Microscopy of Feldspar Weathering Clays and Clay Minerals 28 3 173 – 178 10.1346/CCMN.1980.0280302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eggleton, R. A., Qiming, W., Storr, M., Henning, K.-H. and Adolphi, P., 1991 Smectites formed by mineral weathering Proc. 7th Euroclay Conf., Dresden Greifswald Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universitat 313 – 318.Google Scholar
Gilkes, R. J. and Suddhiprakarn, A., 1979 Biotite alteration in deeply weathered granite. II The oriented growth of secondary minerals Clays & Clay Minerals 37 361 – 367 10.1346/CCMN.1979.0270506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilkes, R. J., Anand, R. R. and Suddhiprakarn, A., 1986 How the microfabric of soils may be influenced by the structure and chemical composition of parent minerals Trans. Int. Soil Sci. Conf. Hamburg 6 1093 – 1106.Google Scholar
Ianovici, V., Neacsu, G. and Neacsu, V., 1990 Li-bearing stevensite from Moldova Noua, Romania Clays & Clay Minerals 38 171 – 178 10.1346/CCMN.1990.0380208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, B. and Gilkes, R. J., 1991 Weathering of chromi-an muscovite to kaolinite Clays & Clay Minerals 39 571 – 579 10.1346/CCMN.1991.0390602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, B. and Gilkes, R. J., 1992 XPAS: An interactive computer program for analysis of powder X-ray diffraction patterns Powder Diffraction 7 6 – 10 10.1017/S0885715600015992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, D. R. and Buseck, P. R., 1980 Microstructures and reaction mechanisms in biopyriboles Amer. Mineral. 65 599 – 623.Google Scholar
Velbel, M. A., 1989 Weathering of hornblende to ferruginous products by a dissolution-reprecipitation mechanism: Petrography and stoichiometry Clays & Clay Minerals 37 515 – 524 10.1346/CCMN.1989.0370603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, I. R., (1975) South Western province: in Geology of Western Australia, West. Australian Geol. Survey Mem. 2, 65–69.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. J., 1975 Chemical weathering of some primary rock-forming minerals Soil Sci. 119 349 – 355 10.1097/00010694-197505000-00004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar