Montmorillonites saturated with Al3+, H+-Al3+, and K+ were titrated in H2O, acetonitrile (AN), and dimethylformamide (DMF) to investigate the acidic properties of the clay in these solvents and to evaluate the application of nonaqueous titration procedures for studies of the acidic properties of 2:1 swelling clays. Samples were titrated with tetramethylammonium hydroxide using a combination glass electrode for Potentiometric determination. Titers of base required to reach the final Potentiometric endpoints were greater in AN than in DMF and H2O. The larger titers in AN compared to H2O were attributed to pH-dependent sites for which an inflection was not observed in the latter solvent. Titration curves of Al-saturated montmorillonite in AN showed evidence of a salt-induced hydrolysis which was confirmed by titration curves of salt extracts. The hydrolysis reaction was more evident in AN than in H2O and was probably due to a disruption of the H2O structure by AN and a polarization of the H2O of solvation. The hydrolysis reaction was enhanced in the presence of excess salt due to the ion exchange of H+ from the exchange surface. These studies indicate that acidic properties of clays may be drastically altered in organic solvents. The acidic properties may be used to advantage, for example, in the determination of edge-site acidity. In addition, they have implications concerning possible chemical reactions and/or alterations of clay in organic solvents.

Multivariate statistical analyses of geochemical, mineralogical, and cation-exchange capacity (CEC) data from a Venezuelan oil well were used to construct a model which relates elemental concentrations to mineral abundances. An r-mode factor analysis showed that most of the variance could be accounted for by four independent factors and that these factors were related to individual mineral components: kaolinite, illite, K-feldspar, and heavy minerals. Concentrations of Al, Fe, and K in core samples were used to estimate the abundances of kaolinite, illite, K-feldspar, and, by subtraction from unity, quartz. Concentrations of these elements were also measured remotely in the well by geochemical logging tools and were used to estimate these mineral abundances on a continuous basis as a function of depth. The CEC was estimated from a linear combination of the derived kaolinite and illite abundances. The formation's thermal neutron capture cross section estimated from the log-derived mineralogy and a porosity log agreed well with the measured data. Concentrations of V, among other trace elements, were modeled as linear combinations of the clay mineral abundances. The measured core V agreed with the derived values in shales and water-bearing sands, but exceeded the clay-derived values in samples containing heavy oil. The excess V was used to estimate the V content and API Gravity of the oil. The log-derived clay mineralogy was used to help distinguish nonmarine from transitional depositional environments. Kaolinite was the dominant clay in nonmarine deposits, whereas transitional sediments contained more illite.

The 57Fe Mössbauer spectra of several montmorillonites, measured at room temperature and 453 K, showed a considerably broadened Fe3+ resonance which can be computer-fitted with a similarly broadened Fe3+ doublet. In some spectra, particularly if all linewidths were constrained to be equal, this broadened Fe3+ resonance was further resolved into overlapping inner and outer Fe3+ doublets, also having broad linewidths. In accordance with recent electron diffraction evidence, the assignment by previous workers of the inner doublet to Fe3+ in the octahedral sites having the cis-arrangement of OH groups and the outer doublet to the octahedral site having the trans-arrangement of OH groups is incorrect. Instead, the Fe3+ was found to be located largely in the trans-octahedral sites. Because of the relatively low iron content of the montmorillonite examined, the next and more distant neighboring-cation environment varied considerably about the octahedral Fe3+ ions. This variation produced a broadened experimental resonance, and the resulting two-doublet computer fits probably represent the mean extremes of a continuum of slightly different Fe3+ resonances arising from the variable nature of the environment surrounding these such trans-sites, rather than distinct cis- and trans-sites. In addition, a small resonance indicating the substitution of Fe3+ into the tetrahedral sites was observed. The interlayer species probably influenced the Mössbauer resonance of Fe3+ in the tetrahedral and octahedral sites.

An X-ray powder diffraction study of a vermiculitized chlorite in an amphibole schist near Limoges, France, shows the following weathering sequence: chlorite → ordered interstratified chlorite/vermiculite → vermiculite. Mössbauer spectroscopy indicates that vermiculitization proceeded by the release of ferrous iron from the 2:1 mica layer of the chlorite. The ferric iron content of the vermiculite product is almost the same as that of the initial chlorite. Infrared spectroscopy and chemical microprobe analyses show that Mg was preferentially extracted from the hydroxide sheet of the chlorite, whereas the Si and Al contents progressively increased to the point of the formation of a pure dioctahedral aluminous vermiculite. The Si, Al, and Mg removal processes support currently accepted vermiculitization mechanisms, but the behavior of Fe is slightly different. In this weathering sequence, vermiculitization does not appear to have taken place by the oxidation of Fe2+, but rather, by the simultaneous leaching of Fe2+ and Mg.

The < 1-μm fraction of 17 bentonite samples from Kinnekulle, southwest Sweden, were studied by chemical analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, and cation-exchange capacity. The bentonites are interbedded with undeformed, flat-laying Ordovician and Silurian sediments and were formed by the transformation of volcanic ash (dated at about 450 Ma) into smectite, which later converted to mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S). The reaction, possibly driven by heat from an overlaying diabase intrusion (about 300 Ma), stopped at different stages of conversion, as evidenced by the I/S which ranges in composition from 60 to 10% smectite layers. A 2-m-thick bed shows zonation, with decreasing smectite proportions towards the upper contact. The zonation is not symmetrical towards the lower contact. In thin beds the illite proportion is higher and the regularity of ordering is inversely proportional to the thickness of the bed. K:Sr and K:Rb ratios follow the illite pattern; the ratios are highest at the contact and in thin beds. The inhibiting effect of Ca and Mg on the smectite-to-illite conversion probably was the cause of less-reacted smectite in the center of the thick bed.

Three post-glacial marine clays from eastern Canada and one marine clay from Japan have been studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy to ascertain their iron mineralogy. Small amounts of hematite (in two samples) and magnetite (in one sample) were found in the Canadian clays, and hematite was detected in the Japanese clay. The major spectral components were ferrous and ferric doublets, consistent with X-ray powder diffraction results that show chlorite, mica, and amphibole in the Canadian samples and smectite in the Japanese sample. Citrate-dithionite extraction removed hematite and most of the magnetite from these samples. Acid-base extraction also removed chlorite and some mica from the Canadian samples. Samples treated by these extractions had appreciably lower geotechnical yield stresses at given water contents.

Clays can act as osmotic membranes and thus give rise to osmotically induced hydrostatic pressures. The magnitude of generated osmotic pressures in geologic systems is governed by the theoretical osmotic pressure calculated solely from solution properties and by value of the membrane's three phe-nomenological coefficients: the hydraulic permeability coefficient, Lp; the reflection coefficient, σ; and the solute permeability coefficient, ω. Generally, low values of Lp correspond to highly compacted membranes in which σ is near unity and ω approaches zero. Such membrane systems should give rise to initially high osmotic fluxes and gradual dissipation of their osmotic potentials.

The high fluid pressures in the Dunbarton Triassic basin, South Carolina, are a good example of osmotically induced potentials. A unique osmotic cell is created by the juxtaposition of fresh water in the overlying Cretaceous sediments against the saline pore water housed within the membrane-functioning sediments of the Triassic basin. Because wells penetrating the saline core of the basin show anomalously high heads relative to wells penetrating the basin margins, the longevity of this osmotic cell is probably dictated by the rate at which salt diffuses out into the overlying fresh water aquifer.

Several clay-organic complexes were synthesized by placing quaternary ammonium cations on smectite by cation exchange. They were then examined for their ability to adsorb phenol and several of its chlorinated congeners. The organic cations used were: hexadecylpyridinium (HDPY+), hexadecyltri-methyl ammonium (HDTMA+), trimethylphenyl ammonium (TMPA), and tetramethylammonium (TMA+). The complexes containing long-chain alkyl (hexadecyl) groups were the most hydrophobic and adsorbed the phenols from water in proportion to their hydrophobicities, which increase with chlorine addition (phenol < chlorophenol < dichloropohenol < trichlorophenol). With n-hexane as the solvent, different adsorption was found which depended on the type and degree of solvent interactions with the compound and the clay-organic complex. Thus, the amount of adsorption of these phenols on clay-organic complexes was dependent on the relative energies of adsorbent-adsorbate and adsorbate-solvent interactions.

Sequential cation-exchange capacity (CEC) measurements were obtained from standard clays using a mechanized, variable-rate leaching device. The device consists of a motorized screwjack and as many as 24 leaching tubes coupled to 60-ml plastic syringes. Controlled withdrawal of the syringe plungers produces a vacuum that permits samples in the leaching tubes to be extracted at a uniform rate. A single, 8-hr leaching of clays with 35 ml of salt solution was found to be comparable to multiple saturations or displacements using a centrifuge. CECs consistent with published values were obtained for reference 2:1 clay minerals using both acetate and chloride salts of Na, Ca, and Mg. Potassium-exchange capacities were also successfully measured following in situ thermal treatment of samples in the leaching tubes. Variations in measured CECs for kaolin-group minerals due to salt intercalation were minimized by using chloride rather than acetate salts and by washing with a dilute aqueous solution of the saturating cation following initial saturation. The mechanical extractor significantly reduced the effort required to perform conventional CEC determinations without sacrificing analytical precision.

Chemical analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and calculated structural formulae of clay-size fractions of smectites from Cretaceous bentonites and illitic clays from Cretaceous, Devonian, and Ordovician bentonites and Jurassic and Permian sandstones indicate the nature and extent of various types of ionic substitution. The determination of tetrahedral (Al, Si) and octahedral (Al, Mg, Fe) composition shows the variable chemistry of these materials. Structural formulae of the illitic clays show that they have tetrahedral charges between 0.4 and 0.8 per half unit cell, and can be divided into phengitic types having octahedral charges of 0.2-0.4 and muscovitic types having octahedral charges <0.2. Evaluation of the formulae in the light of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data shows that the occupancy of non-exchangeable interlayer sites (predominantly K) varies from 47% to 90% of that of ideal muscovite. In some minerals as much as 20% of these sites is occupied by ammonium ions (determined independently). The amount of surface silicate charge balanced by non-exchangeable cations versus that balanced by exchangeable cations has been examined in conjunction with TEM data and suggests that in most samples the charges are about equal. The octahedral composition of smectites in Cretaceous bentonites precludes their having served as transformation precursors for most of the Cretaceous illitic bentonites. The results suggest that these illitic clays originated by neoformation.

Oxine sorption by binary mixtures of montmorillonite and silica gel was studied at pH 5 as a function of oxine concentration and mixture composition. The investigation was made to resolve the problem of the determination of the oxine sorbed by each substance, inasmuch as the total amount sorbed by the mixture is the only value accessible experimentally. By the application of the thermodynamic method of partial quantities, the apparent and partial specific sorption by the clay and by the gel were calculated. These sorption values were found to increase with oxine concentration and to decrease as the proportion of the clay increased in the mixtures.

X-ray powder diffraction patterns for many interstratified kaolinite/glycolated smectites were calculated by changing combinations of probabilities and transition probabilities of two component layers. Reichweite = 0 and Reichweite = 1 structures were investigated. The calculated d-values were plotted, with PKS (the probability that a smectite layer succeeds a kaolin layer given that the first layer is a kaolinite layer) and PSK as the axes of coordinates. These d-values were then linked into equal d-value curves on a graph. Four equal d-value diagrams for mixed reflections ranging from 34.0 to 17.1 Å, from 8.5 to 7.2 Å, from 6.13 to 5.68 Å, and from 3.540 to 3.401 Å were constructed. Two examples of identifying natural kaolinite/smectite minerals using these diagrams are presented.

The depth distribution of illite/smectite (I/S) compositions was investigated for a well drilled to a depth of 3462 m on Barbados Island, the only subaerial exposure of the Barbados accretionary complex. The classical pattern of increasing percentage of illite interlayers in the mixed-layer clay with increasing burial depth was not observed. Rather, the data describe an irregular, zig-zag trend with depth. This trend is probably the result of reverse faulting in the section. I/S data were also used to infer several kilometers of uplift and subsequent erosion of the section. This study shows that irregular patterns of clay diagenesis with depth can be anticipated for sequences that have undergone complicated tectonism and deformation. Combined with other geologic information, these patterns can help to determine the tectonic history of the sedimentary sequence.

The methylation of the fibrous clays, sepiolite and palygorskite, should be facilitated by their large content of surface silanol groups and the low acidity and inaccessibility of coordinated water molecules. Infrared spectroscopy showed that the reaction of diazomethane with these clays resulted in the methylation of their silanol surface groups. The grafting of CH3 groups on the surfaces of these clays produced a decrease in the surface area due primarily to the lowering of the microporosity.