The lacustrine Sucker Creek Formation (Miocene) of eastern Oregon includes unaltered vitric tuffs as well as tuffs altered to the following diagenetic fades: (1) bentonite, (2) interbedded bentonite and opal-CT, (3) K-clinoptilolite, and (4) Ca-clinoptilolite. Bentonite beds contain Fe-rich smectite (8–10 wt. % Fe2O3), quartz, plagioclase, and Ca-clinoptilolite. Opal-CT-rich layers contain inorganic silica (opal-CT), Fe-rich smectite, and minor diatoms. K-clinoptilolite beds typically contain clinoptilolite that can be extremely K-rich (≤7.6 wt. % K2O), opal-CT, smectite, plagioclase, and K-feldspar. This diagenetic facies also includes smectitic tuff and unaltered tuff. Ca-clinoptilolite beds contain Ca-clinoptilolite, quartz, K-feldspar, smectite, and illite.

Based on its chemistry and mineralogy, the bentonite appears to have been derived from dacitic volcanic ash. Chemical considerations and the close spatial relationship between beds of bentonite and opal-CT suggest that the diagenetic alteration of glass to smectite provided silica to the adjacent opal-CT beds. Based on the presence of late-stage Ca-clinoptilolite, alteration appears to have proceeded in a relatively closed chemical system.

Based on the composition of preserved vitric tuff, the zeolitic tuffs appear to be derived from rhyolitic ash, which diagenetically altered in an open hydrologic system and produced vertical zonations in mineralogy. In this model, bentonite horizons at the top of the K-clinoptilolite diagenetic fades formed by reaction of volcanic glass with dilute fluids that had a relatively low (Na+ + K+ + Ca2+)/H+ activity ratio and ${\mathrm{a}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_4{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_4}$, whereas the underlying K-clinoptilolite beds formed from reactions between glass and dilute fluids having a higher (Na+ + K+ + Ca2+)/H+ activity ratio and ${\mathrm{a}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_4{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_4}$. Unaltered vitric ash between these beds may represent zones of higher permeability that inhibited secondary mineral alteration. Ca-clinoptilo-lite-rich beds appear to have undergone alteration similar to K-clinoptilolite-rich beds as well as to have been subjected to later, low-temperature (perhaps 75°–150°C) hydrothermal alteration which enhanced cation exchange in the zeolite and formed quartz from opal-CT.

Single-crystal Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of Keokuk kaolinite and Ouray dickite were obtained with an FTIR microscope. Although numerous IR, FTIR, and Raman spectra of polycrystalline kaolinite and dickite can be found in the literature, the present data represent the first reported single-crystal vibrational spectra for these clay minerals. The orientation of the crystallographic axes of dickite was determined using a cross-polarizing optical microscope fitted with an 550-nm optical retardation plate. Assignment of the inner hydroxyl group OH1 to the 3623-cm-1 band was confirmed, and the angle of this OH group to the b-axis was determined to be 47° based upon the measured dichroic ratio. The 3702-3710-cm−1 absorption feature appeared to consist of two closely spaced bands having slightly different polarization behavior. The inner-surface hydroxyl group OH3 was assigned to the absorption bands at 3710 cm−1. The calculated angle of the OH3 groups to the b-axis was found to be 22°, which agrees well with the angles determined by X-ray powder diffraction and neutron diffraction. The remaining hydroxyl groups, OH2 and OH4, were assigned to the 3656 cm-1 band; the angle of the OH2 and OH4 groups to the b-axis was measured at 45°. The polarization behavior of the OH-deformation bands of dickite at 911, 937, and 952 cm−1 was found to be similar to that observed in the OH-stretching region. Single-crystal FTIR spectra of Keokuk kaolinite showed that rotation of the electric vector around the c/z axis in the ab plane of kaolinite resulted in a behavior distinct from that of dickite. The OH-stretching bands of kaolinite were found to be considerably more polarized than the corresponding bands of dickite. This is related directly to the fact that dickite possesses a glide plane (space group Cc) compared with kaolinite, which does not (space group C1).

Petrographic observations indicate that dolomite, siderite, pyrite, Ti oxides, quartz, and K-feldspar formed as by-products of mica alteration during diagenesis of Jurassic reservoir sandstones of the Haltenbanken area (offshore central Norway). These minerals precipitated on a mica-grain scale or a thin-section scale. Modal analyses and mass-balance calculations of muscovite alteration to kaolinite and of biotite to kaolinite, illite, and chlorite suggest limited elemental mobility during sandstone diagenesis. The alteration of mica to kaolinite occurred in sandstones buried <2200 m deep (present temperature < 70°C), whereas illitization and chloritization of biotite occurred during burial to depths > 3000 m (present temperature >95°C).

The expandabilities of kaolin-group minerals in different horizons in 10 soils from New Zealand and Fiji were measured immediately after the application of formamide and after the sequential application of hydrazine, water, and glycerol (HWG treatment). The expandabilities of these minerals in some of the soil samples with dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) and after long-term (4-day) formamide treatments were also measured. The abundance of characteristic halloysite shapes was determined from electron micrographs of selected samples. The expandabilities of several non-soil kaolinite samples with the DMSO and HWG treatments were also measured.

The expansion of kaolin-group minerals showed the same trends within almost all profiles, whether determined using formamide (by the immediate-formamide treatment) or glycerol (by the HWG treatment). Except where both treatments led to complete intercalation, the HWG treatment always caused more expansion of kaolin-group minerals than obtained immediately after formamide application. The HWG treatment expanded some non-soil kaolinite samples, but well-crystallized kaolinite was not affected by this treatment. The DMSO treatment expanded kaolin-group minerals in the soils to a similar extent as the HWG treatment and also expanded well-crystallized kaolinite. The degree of expansion resulting from the immediate-formamide treatment matched abundance of typical halloysite particle shapes more closely than the degree of expansion given by the other intercalation treatments. The degree of expansion immediately following formamide application could be diminished, if the samples were heated at 40 ± 5°C.

Point defect centers in hydrothermal kaolinite have been investigated using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Kaolinite was sampled in petrographically well-defined materials coming from uranium-rich hydrothermally altered volcanic tuffs (Nopal I uranium deposit, Chihuahua, Mexico), which show extensive kaolinization and an intense redistribution of uranium. Several kaolinite parageneses were defined according to their origin (fissure fillings and feldspar pseudomorphs); their location relative to the U6+ mineralization at the scale of the deposit (mineralized breccia pipe vs. barren surrounding rhyolitic tuffs), and at the scale of mineral assemblages; and their crystal chemistry.

Two types of centers of axial symmetry were identified (A- and A′-centers) and represent positive holes trapped on apical oxygens (Si-O−-centers). A-centers were stable to 400°C, whereas A′-centers annealed at 350°C. A relation between defect-center concentration and U content demonstrates that natural irradiation was responsible for these centers. On the other hand, defect-center concentration was not directly linked to the origin (fissural or feldspar pseudomorph) or the crystal chemistry (structural order and substitutional Fe3+ content) of the kaolinite. According to petrographic data, and with respect to the relative thermal stability of A- and A′-centers, two successive irradiations of kaolinite were evidenced: (1) originally during crystallization of kaolinite from radioactive hydrothermal solutions, and (2) permanently when kaolinite was in contact with secondary U-silicates, which led to the formation of A′-centers.

Because of the short half-life of U, these two radiation-induced centers were created by short-lived elements of the U-decay series. As a consequence, variations of defect-center concentration possibly reflect variations in radioactive disequilibrium during the history of the alteration system. This provides a unique tool for tracing the dynamics of the transfer of radionuclides in the geosphere: kaolinite may be used as a sensitive in situ dosimeter, which may be useful in the fields of weathering petrology and nuclear waste management.

Pillared, regularly and randomly interstratified illite/smectite (I/S) was prepared by interacting aluminum chlorohydrate with I/S in aqueous dispersion. I/S samples from Kinnekulle, Sweden, ranging in composition from 30–60% smectite layers, were used as starting clays. The pillaring resulted in a separation of the smectite layers in the I/S of about 9 Å, as estimated by X-ray powder diffraction and by nitrogen adsorption studies. Only the smectite layers of the clay were modified by the pillaring procedure. The pillared products had surface areas of 200–260 m2/g and pore volumes of about 0.18 cm3/g. The uptake of Al by the clay and the micropore surface area of the pillared products were proportional to the fraction of smectite layers in the I/S. The thermal and hydrothermal stability of the pillared I/S was similar to that of pillared montmorillonite prepared using the same procedure.

The influence of added sodium and calcium nitrate electrolyte on the particle aggregates in the colloid fraction of natural bentonite and kaolin was studied. Clays were flocculated in distilled water and various electrolyte concentrations. Aggregate size was studied by sedimentation analysis; the mean radius of the aggregates was plotted against the concentrations of Na+ and Ca2+. For bentonite, the mean radii decreased with an increase of Na+ and Ca2+ concentration, reaching a minimum; and further increases in concentration led to an increase of the mean radii of the aggregates. For kaolin, an increase in Na+ and Ca2+ concentration gave rise to an increase in the mean radii of aggregates.

Scanning electron micrographs showed different types of aggregates, depending on the physico-chemical conditions of a sedimentation process. In bentonite and kaolin sediments formed from a distilled water slurry, the dominant aggregate was an edge-face type. The small addition of salts to a bentonite slurry led to the formation of edge-edge-type aggregates; for kaolin edge-face-type aggregates formed, although within the microaggregate face-face associations were observed. The highest concentrations of electrolytes for sediments of both clays led to formation of compact, face-face-type aggregates.

The level of adsorption of enantiomeric tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) (Ru(bpy)32+) by seven different smectite samples was found to be controlled by the total surface area of the clay. The level corresponded to one monolayer. The adsorption of the racemic mixture was lower for all samples, being limited to saturation of the clay's cation-exchange capacity. The addition of NaCl increased the adsorption of the racemic Ru(bpy)32+ to the same level as the enantiomers. The dependence on the clay's surface charge density, expected on the basis of the limited face-to-face aggregation model, was not found. The sharp decrease in adsorption of the enantiomers by low charge-density clays and the corresponding sharp increase in adsorption of the racemate by high charge density clays were not observed. These results do not necessarily invalidate the model. The range of negative charges examined may not have been wide enough. Also, charge distribution in smectite is generally not uniform.