Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:01:53.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Parallel reaction kinetics of smectite to illite conversion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

H. Wei
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, The Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), 7034 Trondheim, Norway
E. Roaldset
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, The Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), 7034 Trondheim, Norway
M. Bjorøy
Affiliation:
Geolab Nor A/S, 7002 Trondheim, Norway

Abstract

A parallel reaction model is developed for describing the conversion of smectite to illite. Each reaction represents a group of similar smectite layers that require the same activation energy and have the same illitization rate. The model considers that the rate-determining reactant is smectite itself which follows first-order Arrhenius kinetics. By modelling the data from hydrothermal illitization experiments and from a Gulf Coast well, the activation energies are found to be distributed in the range of 11–24 kcal/mol with a maximum reaction at 18 kcal/mol, which involves 65% of reactive smectite. A frequency factor in the order of 10−3–10−4/s, obtained from the data fitting, appears to be adequate for modelling natural diagenesis in sedimentary basins. The distribution pattern of activation energies is considered to be controlled by the degree of heterogeneity of the initial smectite and the degree of electrostatic interactions between smectite layers and the newly formed illite layers during reaction.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1996

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

Altaner, S.P. (1990) Calculation of K diffusional rates in bentonite beds. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 53, 923931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altaner, S.P., Hower, J., Whitney, G. & Aronson, J.L. (1984) Model for K-bentonite formation: Evidence from zoned K-bentonites in the disturbed belt, Montana. Geology, 12, 412–415.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aronson, J.L. & Hower, J. (1976) Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediment: 2. Radiogenic argon evidence. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87, 738744.Google Scholar
Bassett, W.A. (1958) Copper vermiculites from Northern Rhodesia. Am. Miner. 43, 1112-1133.Google Scholar
Bethke, C.M. & Altaner, S.P. (1986) Layer-by-layer mechanism of smectite illitization and application to a new rate law. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 136–145.Google Scholar
Bethke, C.M., Vergo, N. & Altaner, S.P. (1986) Pathways of smectite illitization. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 125135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boles, J.R. & Franks, S.G. (1979) Clay diagenesis in Wilcox sandstones of Southwest Texas: Implications of smectite diagenesis on sandstone cementation. J. Sed. Pet. 49, 5570.Google Scholar
Bouchet, A., Proust, D., Meunier, A. & Beaufort, D. (1988) High-charge to low-charge smectite reaction in hydrothermal alteration processes. Clay Miner. 23, 133146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, A.K., Braun, R.L. & Samoun, A.M. (1988) Further comparison of methods for measuring kerogen pyrolysis rates and fitting kinetic parameters. Pp. 839–845 in: Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1987 (Mattavelli, L. & Novelli, L., editors). Organic Geochemistry, 13.Google Scholar
Eberl, D.D. & Hower, J. (1976) Kinetics of illite formation. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87, 13261330.Google Scholar
Hillier, S. & Clayton, T. (1989) Illite-smectite diagenesis in Devonian Lacustrine mudrocks from Northern Scotland and its relationship to organic maturity indicators. Clay Miner. 24, 181196.Google Scholar
Howard, J.J. (1981) Lithium and potassium saturation of illite-smectite clays from interlaminated shales and sandstones. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 136142.Google Scholar
Howard, J.J. & Roy, D.M. (1985) Development of layer charge and kinetics of experimental smectite alteration. Clays Clay Miner. 33, 8188.Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E.V., Hower, M.E. & Perry, E.A. (1976) Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediment: 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87, 725737.Google Scholar
Huff, W.D. & Turkmenoglu, A.G. (1981) Chemical characteristics and origin of Ordovician K-bentonites along the Cincinnati Arch. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 113123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lagaly, G. (1982) Layer charge heterogeneity in vermiculites. Clays Clay Miner. 30, 215–222.Google Scholar
McCubbin, D.G. & Patron, J.W. (1981) Burial diagenesis of illite-smectite, a kinetic model. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 65, 956 (ahs.).Google Scholar
Nadeau, P.H., Wilson, M.J., McHardy, W.J. & Tait, J.M. (1984a) Interstratified clay as fundamental particles. Science, 225, 923925.Google Scholar
Nadeau, P.H., Wilson, M.J., McHardy, W.J. & Tait, J.M. (1984b) Interparticle diffraction: a new concept for interstratified clays. Clay Miner. 19, 757–769.Google Scholar
Nadeau, P.H., Tait, J.M., McHardy, W.J. & Wilson, M.J. (1984c) Interstratified XRD characteristics of physical mixtures of elementary clay particles. Clay Miner. 19, 6776.Google Scholar
Newman, A.C.D. & Brown, G. (1987) The chemical constitution of clays. Pp. 1–128 in: Chemistry ∼f Clays and Clay Minerals (Newman, A.C.D., editor). Mineralogical Society, London, Monograph No 6, Longman Scientific & Technical.Google Scholar
Pearce, R.B., Clayton, T. & Kemp, A.E.S. (1991) Illitization and organic maturity in Silurian sediments from the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Clay Miner. 26, 199210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, M.J. & Small, J.S. (1988) Illite-smectite diagenesis and palaeotemperatures in Northern North Sea Quaternary to Mesozoic shale sequences. Clay Miner. 23, 109132.Google Scholar
Perry, E.A. & Hower, J. (1970) Burial diagenesis in Gulf pelitic sediments. Clays Clay Miner. 18, 165177.Google Scholar
Pyyre, A.M. (1982) The kinetics of the smectite to illite reaction in contact metamorphic’ shales. MA thesis, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.Google Scholar
Pyyre, A.M. & Reynolds, R.C. (1989) The thermal transformation of smectite to illite. Pp. 133–140 in: Thermal History of Sedimentary Basins: Methods and Case Histories (Naeser, N.D. & McCulloh, T.H., editors). Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Reynolds, R.C. & Hower, J. (1970) The nature of interlayering in mixed-layer iUite-montmorillonites. Clays Clay Miner. 18, 25–36.Google Scholar
Sawhney, B.L. (1969) Regularity of interstratification as affected by charge density in layer silicates. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc. 33, 4246.Google Scholar
Smart, G. & Clayton, T. (1985) The progressive illitization of interstratified illite-smectite from carboniferous sediments of Northern England and its relationship to organic maturity indicators. Clay Miner. 20, 455466.Google Scholar
Srodorn, J. (1979) Correlation between coal and clay diagenesis in the Carboniferous of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Proc. 6th Int. Clay Conf., Oxford, 251-260.Google Scholar
Uncerer, P. (1990) State of the art of research in kinetic modelling of oil formation and expulsion. Pp. 1 -25 in: Advances in Organic” Geochemistry 1989 (Durand, B. & Behar, F., editors). Organic Geochemistry 16.Google Scholar
Vasseur, G. & Velde, B. (1993) A kinetic interpretation of the smectite-to-illite transformation. Pp. 173-184 in: Basin Modelling: Advances and Applications (Doré, et al., editors). NPF Special Publication 3, Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Whitney, G. & Northrop, H.R. (1988) Experimental investigation of the smectite to illite reaction: Dual reaction mechanisms and oxygen-isotope systematics. Am. Miner. 73, 7790.Google Scholar