Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T04:58:35.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clay mineralogy and rock strength of a mid-German diabase: implications for improved quality control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

S. Kaufhold ,
H. G. Dill  and
R. Dohrmann
S. Kaufhold*
Affiliation:
BGR, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany
H. G. Dill
Affiliation:
BGR, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany
R. Dohrmann
Affiliation:
BGR, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany LBEG, Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Basalts and related magmatic rocks such as diabase are frequently used as raw materials in the building and construction industry as dimension stones or as aggregates, where they may form the sub-bases of roads or railway embankments. A major characteristic controlling the quality of the raw materials is the rock strength, which can be affected by the presence of swellable clay minerals (smectites). Increasing smectite content is generally considered to increasingly affect rock integrity. Industrial practice, in which the smectite content is monitored via cation exchange capacity (CEC) methods, on the other hand, showed that both mechanically stable smectite-rich and unstable smectite-poor materials exist. We therefore studied the CEC–strength relation based on twelve samples from a German diabase quarry.

As could be expected, the sample with the highest CEC was the least stable. However, the comparison of the rock strength with the CEC of the other samples was less clear. Comparing the CEC of powders and of the 1–2 mm fraction of the same sample provided additional information. In the case of samples which are relatively stable (in spite of high CEC values), the CEC values of the powders were significantly higher than those of the 1–2 mm fraction. Samples with less rock strength, on the other hand, showed equal CEC values of the powder and the 1–2 mm fraction. This difference may be explained by different accessibilities of the smectites for CEC exchange solutions during typical experiments.

In conclusion, the application of the CEC method for quality control considering both powdered and 1–2 mm samples allows a more precise estimation of the rock strength to be made, particularly for the comparison of different materials. Although measurement of two CEC values (after both sieving and grinding) would complicate quality control, the present study indicates that valuable additional information, i.e. semi-quantitative information on the accessibility of smectites, is gained.

Keywords

basaltdiabasecorrensiteCECgravel quality managementsmectite accessibility
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 419 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Belka, Z. & Narkiewicz, M. (2008) Devonian. Pp. 383–410 in: The Geology of Central Europe, 1: Precambrian and Palaeozoic (McCann, T., editor). Geological Society of London, Special Publication, London.Google Scholar
Bujdák, J. & Komadel, P. (1997) Interaction of Methylene Blue with reduced charge montmorillonite. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 101, 9065–9068.Google Scholar
Dill, H.G. & Röhling, S. (2007) Bodenschätze der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1:1000000 (unter Mitarbeit der Geologischen Dienste der Bundesländer). Bundesanstaltfür Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover.Google Scholar
Dill, H.G., Sachsenhofer, R.F., Grecula, P., Sasvári, T., Palinkaš, L.A., Borojević-Šoštarić, S., Strmić-Palinkaš, S., Prochaska, W., Garuti, G., Zaccarini, F., Arbouille, D. & Schulz, H.-M. (2008) Fossil fuels, ore and industrial minerals. Pp. 1341–1449 in: The Geology of Central Europe, 2: Mesozoic and Cenozoic (McCann, T., editor). Geological Society of London, Special Publication, London.Google Scholar
Dill, H.G., Dohrmann, R. & Kaufhold, S. (2011) Disseminated and faultbound autohydrothermal ferroan saponite in Late Paleozoic andesites of the Saar-Nahe Basin, SW Germany: Implications for the economic geology of intermediate (sub)volcanic rocks. Applied Clay Science, 51, 226–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drozdzewski, G. (1999) Gewinnungsstä tten von Festgesteinen in Deutschland. Geologisches Landesamt Nordrhein-Westfalen, Krefeld, 194 pp.Google Scholar
Fisher, R.V. & Schmincke, H.-U. (1984) Pyroclastic Rocks. Springer-Verlag, 472 pp.Google Scholar
Flick, H. & Nesbor, H.D. (1988) Der Vulkanismus in der Lahnmulde. Jahresbericht und Mitteilungen des Oberrheinischen Geologischen Vereins, 70, 411–475.Google Scholar
Floyd, P. (1995) Igneous activity. Pp. 59–81 in: Pre-Permian Geology of Central and Eastern Europe (Dallmeyer, R.D, Franke, F. & Weber, K., editors). Springer Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Iñigo, A., Vicente, M.A. & Rives, V. (2000) Weathering and decay of granitic rocks: its relation to their pore network. Mechanics of Materials, 32, 555–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karpuz, C. & Pas–amehmetoğlu, A.G. (1997) Field characterization of weathered Ankara andesites. Engineering Geology, 46, 1–17.Google Scholar
Kaufhold, S. & Dohrmann, R. (2003) Beyond the Methylene Blue method: determination of the smectite content using the Cu-triene method. Zeitschrift für angewandte Geologie, 49(2), 13–18.Google Scholar
Kaufhold, S., Dohrmann, R., Ufer, K. & Meyer, F.M. (2002) Comparison of methods for the quantification of montmorillonite in bentonites. Applied Clay Science, 22, 145–151.Google Scholar
Meier, L.P. & Kahr, G. (1999) Determination of the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of clay minerals using the complexes of copper(II) ion with triethylenetetramine and tretraethylenepentamine. Clays and Clay Minerals, 47, 386–388.Google Scholar
Ufer, K., Stanjek, H., Roth, G., Dohrmann, R., Kleeberg, R. & Kaufhold, S. (2008). Quantitative phase analysis of bentonites by the Rietveld method. Clays and Clay Minerals, 56, 272–282.Google Scholar