Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2018
Transmission electron images of fine-grained micas from various clay deposits exhibit lath-shaped units arranged in modes similar to the stacking of layers in different mica polymorphs. Micas in a Georgia bentonite display two sets of parallel laths intersecting at an angle of 120°. Selected area electron diffraction (SAD) of these micas gives a sharp spot pattern indicating a perfect registry between the lattices of individual laths. Furthermore, the SAD pattern has an intensity distribution similar to that of a 2M1 dioctahedral mica. Another mica in an India bentonite shows one set of parallel laths with an intensity distribution expected from a IM biotite. Some of the micas in the Marblehead illite exhibit three sets of parallel laths in a trigonal arrangement similar to the stacking in 3T mica.