1. Clay Minerals

2. Origin of Clay Minerals
“The contact of rocks and water produces clays, either at or near the surface of the earth” (from Velde, 1995).
Rock +Water  Clay
For example,
The CO2 gas can dissolve in water and form carbonic acid, which will become hydrogen ions H+ and bicarbonate ions, and make water slightly acidic.
CO2+H2O  H2CO3 H+ +HCO3-
The acidic water will react with the rock surfaces and tend to dissolve the K ion and silica from the feldspar. Finally, the feldspar is transformed into kaolinite.
Feldspar + hydrogen ions+water  clay (kaolinite) + cations, dissolved silica
2KAlSi3O8+2H+ +H2O  Al2Si2O5(OH)4 + 2K+ +4SiO2
Note that the hydrogen ion displaces the cations.
Steady water cannot sustain the reaction.

3. Origin of Clay Minerals (Cont.)
The alternation of feldspar into kaolinite is very common in the decomposed granite.
The clay minerals are common in the filling materials of joints and faults (fault gouge, seam) in the rock mass.
Weak plane!

4. Basic Unit-Silica Tetrahedra
(Si2O10)-4
1 Si
4 O
Replace four Oxygen with hydroxyls or combine with positive union
Tetrahedron
Plural: Tetrahedra
Hexagonal
hole
(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

5. Basic Unit-Octahedral Sheet
1 Cation
6 O or OH
Gibbsite sheet: Al3+
Al2(OH)6, 2/3 cationic spaces are filled
One OH is surrounded by 2 Al: Dioctahedral sheet
Different cations
Brucite sheet: Mg2+
Mg3(OH)6, all cationic spaces are filled
One OH is surrounded by 3 Mg: Trioctahedral sheet
(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

6. Basic Unit-Summary
Mitchell, 1993

7. Synthesis Noncrystalline clay -allophane
Copy the table to students (Table 3-3, Mitchell’s book)
I will only introduce common clay minerals which are quite often encountered by engineers.
The bonding between the sheet is convalent bond.
Mitchell, 1993
Noncrystalline clay -allophane

8. Minerals-Kaolinite Basal spacing is 7.2 Å layer
Mineral particles of the kaolinite subgroup consists of the basic units stacked in the c direction. The bonding between successive layers is by both van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. The bonding is suffi
Si4Al4O10(OH)8. Platy shape
The bonding between layers are van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds (strong bonding).
There is no interlayer swelling
Width: 0.1~ 4m, Thickness: 0.05~2 m
Trovey, 1971 ( from Mitchell, 1993)
17 m

9. Minerals-Halloysite Si4Al4O10(OH)8·4H2O
A single layer of water between unit layers.
The basal spacing is 10.1 Å for hydrated halloysite and 7.2 Å for dehydrated halloysite.
If the temperature is over 50 °C or the relative humidity is lower than 50%, the hydrated halloysite will lose its interlayer water (Irfan, 1966). Note that this process is irreversible and will affect the results of soil classifications (GSD and Atterberg limits) and compaction tests.
There is no interlayer swelling.
Tubular shape while it is hydrated.
Classification and compaction tests made on air-dried samples can give markedly different results than tests on samples at their natural water content.
Trovey, 1971 ( from Mitchell, 1993)
2 m

10. Minerals-Montmorillonite
Si8Al4O20(OH)4·nH2O (Theoretical unsubstituted). Film-like shape.
There is extensive isomorphous substitution for silicon and aluminum by other cations, which results in charge deficiencies of clay particles.
n·H2O and cations exist between unit layers, and the basal spacing is from 9.6 Å to  (after swelling).
The interlayer bonding is by van der Waals forces and by cations which balance charge deficiencies (weak bonding).
There exists interlayer swelling, which is very important to engineering practice (expansive clay).
Width: 1 or 2 m, Thickness: 10 Å~1/100 width
n·H2O+cations
Montmorillonite is the dominant clay mineral in bentonite, altered from volcanic ash. Bentonite has the unsual property gives rise to interesting industrial used. Most important is as drilling mud in which the montmorillonite is used to give the fluid viscosity several times that of water. It is also used for stopping leakage in soil, rocks, and dams.
5 m
(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

11. Minerals-Illite (mica-like minerals)
Si8(Al,Mg, Fe)4~6O20(OH)4·(K,H2O)2. Flaky shape.
The basic structure is very similar to the mica, so it is sometimes referred to as hydrous mica. Illite is the chief constituent in many shales.
Some of the Si4+ in the tetrahedral sheet are replaced by the Al3+, and some of the Al3+ in the octahedral sheet are substituted by the Mg2+ or Fe3+. Those are the origins of charge deficiencies.
The charge deficiency is balanced by the potassium ion between layers. Note that the potassium atom can exactly fit into the hexagonal hole in the tetrahedral sheet and form a strong interlayer bonding.
The basal spacing is fixed at 10 Å in the presence of polar liquids (no interlayer swelling).
Width: 0.1~ several m, Thickness: ~ 30 Å
potassium K
(1)Fewer of Si4+positions are filled by Al3+ in the illite.
(2)There is some randomness in the stacking of layers in illite.
(3) There is less potassium in illite. Well-organized illite contains 9-10% K2O.
(4) Illite particles are much smaller than mica particles.
Ferric ion Fe3+
Trovey, 1971 ( from Mitchell, 1993)
7.5 m

12. Minerals-Vermiculite (micalike minerals)
The octahedral sheet is brucite.
The basal spacing is from 10 Å to 14 Å.
It contains exchangeable cations such as Ca2+ and Mg2+ and two layers of water within interlayers.
It can be an excellent insulation material after dehydrated.
Illite
Vermiculite
Vermiculite is similar to montmorillonite, a 2:1 mineral, but it has only two interlayers of water. After it is dried at high temperature, which removes the interlayer water, expanded” vermiculite makes an excellent insulation material.
Mitchell, 1993

13. Minerals-Chlorite The basal spacing is fixed at 14 Å. Gibbsite or
brucite
It is significantly less active than montmorillonite.

14. Chain Structure Clay Minerals
Attapulgite
They have lathlike or threadlike morphologies.
The particle diameters are from 50 to 100 Å and the length is up to 4 to 5 m.
Attapulgite is useful as a drilling mud in saline environment due to its high stability.
4.7 m
Trovey, 1971 ( from Mitchell, 1993)
Although these minerals are not frequently encountered, attapulgite has been found useful as a drilling mud in saline environments because of its high stability.

15. Mixed Layer Clays
Different types of clay minerals have similar structures (tetrahedral and octahedral sheets) so that interstratification of layers of different clay minerals can be observed.
In general, the mixed layer clays are composed of interstratification of expanded water-bearing layers and non-water-bearing layers. Montmorillonite-illite is most common, and chlorite-vermiculite and chlorite-montmorillonite are often found.
(Mitchell, 1993)
Most than one type of clay mineral is usually found in most soils. Because of the great similarity in crystal structure among the different minerals, interstratification of two or more layer types often occurs within a single particle
The most abundant mixed layer material is composed of expanded water-bearing layers and contracted non-water-bearing layers. Montmorillonite-illite is most common, and chlorite-vermiculite and chlorite-montmorillonite are often found

16. Noncrystalline Clay Materials
Allophane
Allophane is X-ray amorphous and has no definite composition or shape. It is composed of hollow, irregular spherical particles with diameters of 3.5 to 5.0 nm.
The formation of imogolite and allophane occur during weathering of volcanic ash under humid, temperate or tropical climate conditions.

17. Identification of Clay Minerals

18. X-ray diffraction
Mitchell, 1993
The distance of atomic planes d can be determined based on the Bragg’s equation.
BC+CD = n, n = 2d·sin, d = n/2 sin
where n is an integer and  is the wavelength.
Different clays minerals have various basal spacing (atomic planes). For example, the basing spacing of kaolinite is 7.2 Å.
Electronmicroscopy, both transmission and scanning, can be used to identify clay minerals in a soil sample, but the process is not easy and/or quantitative.
Bragg’s law: The two rays will constructively interfere if the extra distance ray I travels is a whole number of wavelengths farther then what ray II travels.

19. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA)
Differential thermal analysis (DTA) consists of simultaneously heating a test sample and a thermally inert substance at constant rate (usually about 10 ºC/min) to over 1000 ºC and continuously measuring differences in temperature and the inert material T.
Endothermic (take up heat) or exothermic (liberate heat) reactions can take place at different heating temperatures. The mineral types can be characterized based on those signatures shown in the left figure.
(from Mitchell, 1993)
For example:
Quartz changes from the  to  form at 573 ºC and an endothermic peak can be observed.
All these equipment can be found in the Materials Characterization and Preparation Facility. T
Temperature (100 ºC)

20. DTA (Cont.) If the phase transition of the sample occurs,
If the sample is thermally inert, T T
Crystallize
Melt
Time t
Time t
Endothermic reactions take up heat from surroundings and therefore the temperature T decreases.
Exothermic reactions liberate heat to surroundings and therefore the temperature T increases.
T= the temperature of the sample – the temperature of the thermally inert substance.

21. Other Methods Electron microscopy Specific surface (Ss)
Cation exchange capacity (cec)
Plasticity chart

22. Other Methods (Cont.) 5. Potassium determination
Well-organized 10Å illite layers contain 9% ~ 10 % K2O.
6. Thermogravimetric analysis
It is based on changes in weight caused by loss of water or CO2 or gain in oxygen.
Sometimes, you cannot identify clay minerals only based on one method.