Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T10:30:28.234Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The reactivity of bentonites: a review. An application to clay barrier stability for nuclear waste storage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

A. Meunier ,
B. Velde  and
L. Griffault
A. Meunier
Affiliation:
Hydrogéotogie, Argiles, Sols, Altérations, CNRS-UMR 6532, Univ. Poitiers, 40 avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
B. Velde
Affiliation:
Dept. Géologie, CNRS URA 1316, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75232 Paris Cedex 05, France
L. Griffault
Affiliation:
ANDRA, DS/HG, Parc de la Croix Blanche, 1-7 rue Jean Monnet, 92298 Chatenay-Malabry Cedex, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The thermal stability of bentonites is of particular interest for containment barriers in nuclear waste storage facilities. The kinetics of smectite reactions have been investigated under laboratory conditions for some time. The variables of time, chemical composition and temperature have been varied in these experiments. The results of such an assessment are that there are about as many kinetic values deduced from experiments as there are experiments.

Experiments using natural bentonite to study the smectite-to-illite conversion have been interpreted as a progressive transformation of montmorillonite to illite. It is highly probable that the initial reaction product is not illite but a high-charge beidellite + saponite + quartz mineral assemblage which gives, then, beidellite-mica interstratified mixed-layer minerals. These experimental reactions are noticeably different from those of diagenesis, being closer to reactions in hydrothermal systems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 187 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

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

Beaufort, D., Papapanagiotou, P., Patrier, P., Fujimoto, K. & Kasai, K. (1995) High temperature smectites in active geothermal field. Proc. 8th Int. Sym. Water-Rock Interact., 493-496.Google Scholar
Bethke, C.M. & Altaner, S.P. (1986) Layer-by-layer mechanisms of smectite illitization and application to a new rate law. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 136–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouchet, A., Lajudie, A., Rassineux, F., Meunier, A. & Atabek, R. (1992) Mineralogy and kinetics of alteration of a mixed-layer kaolinite/smectite in nuclear waste disposal simulation experiment (Stripa site, Sweden). Pp. 113-123 in: Clays and Hydrosilicate Gels in Nuclear Fields (Meunier, A., editor).Google Scholar
Chermak, J.A. (1989) The kinetics and thermodynamics of clay mineral reactions. PhD thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va, USA.Google Scholar
Eberl, D.D. (1978) The reaction of montmorillonite to mixed layer clay: the effect of interlayer alkali and alkaline-earth cations. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 42, 1–7.Google Scholar
Eberl, D.D. & Hower, J. (1976) Kinetics of illite formation. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 87, 1326–1330.Google Scholar
Eberl, D.D., Whitney, G. & Khoury, H. (1978) Hydrothermal reactivity of smectite. Am. Miner. 63, 401–409.Google Scholar
Elliott, W.C., Aronson, J.L., Matisoff, G. & Gautier, D.L. (1991) Kinetics of the smectite to illite transformation in the Denver basin: clay mineralogy, K-Ar data and mathematical modelling. Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 75, 436–462.Google Scholar
Esposito, K.J. & Whitney, G. (1995) Thermal effects of thin igneous intrusions on diagenetic reactions in a Tertiary basin of southwestern Washington. U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 2085-c, 40p.Google Scholar
Grauby, O., Petit, S., Decarreau, A. & Baronnet, A. (1993) The beidellite-saponite series: an experimental approach. Eur. J. Miner. 5, 623–635.Google Scholar
Howard, J.J. (1981) Lithium and potassium saruration of illite/smectite from interlaminated shales and sandstones. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 136–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, J.J. & Roy, D.M. (1985) Development of layer charge and kinetics of experimental smectite alteration. Clays Clay Miner. 33, 81–88.Google Scholar
Huang, W.L., Longo, J.M. & Pevear, D.R. (1993) An experimentally derived kinetic model for smectiteto- illite conversion and its use as a geothermometer. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 162–177.Google Scholar
Inoue, A. (1983) Potassium fixation of clay minerals during hydrothermal alteration. Clays Clay Miner. 31, 81–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meunier, A. & Velde, B. (1989) Solid solutions in I-S mixed layer minerals and illite. Am. Miner. 74, 1106–1112.Google Scholar
Nadeau, P.H., Wilson, M.J., McHardy, W.J. & Tait, J.M. (1985) The conversion of the smectite to illite during diagenesis. Evidence from some illitic clays from bentonites and sandstones. Mineral. Mag. 49, 393–400.Google Scholar
Perry, E. & Hower, J. (1970) Burial diagenesis in Gulf Coast pelitic sediments. Clays Clay Miner. 18, 165–178.Google Scholar
Proust, D., Léchelle, J., Meunier, A. & Lajudie, A. (1990) Hydrothermal reactivity of mixed-layer kaolinite/ smectite and implications for radioactive waste disposal. Eur. J. Miner. 2, 313–325.Google Scholar
Pusch, R. & Madsen, F.T. (1995) Aspects on the illitization of the Kinnekulle bentonites. Clays Clay Miner. 43, 261–270.Google Scholar
Pytte, A.M. & Reynolds, R.C. (1989) The thermal transformation of smectite to illite. Pp. 133–140 in: The Thermal History of Sedimentary Basin: Methods and Case History (Naesser, N.D. & McCulloh, T.H., editors), Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Robertson, H.E. & Lahann, R.W. (1981) Smectite to illite conversion rates: effects of solution chemistry. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 129–135.Google Scholar
Schultz, L.G. (1969) Lithium and potassium absorption, dehydroxylation temperature, and structural water content in aluminous smectites. Clays Clay Miner. 17, 115–149.Google Scholar
Small, J.S. (1993) Experimental determination of the rates of precipitation of authigenic illite and kaolinite in the presence of aqueous oxalate and comparison to the K-Ar ages of authigenic illite in reservoir sandstones. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 191–208.Google Scholar
Šucha, V., Kraus, I., Gerthofferova, H., Petes, J. & Serekova, M. (1993) Smectite to illite conversion in bentonites and shales of the East Slovak basin. Clay Miner. 28, 243–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, B. (1969) The compositional join muscovitepyrophyllite at moderate temperatures and pressures. Bull. Soc. Ft. Miner. Cristal. 92, 360–368.Google Scholar
Velde, B. (1985) Clay Minerals: A Physico-Chemical Explanation of their Occurrence. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Velde, B. & Brusewitz, A.M. (1986) Compositional variation in component layers in natural illite/ smectite. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 651–657.Google Scholar
Velde, B. & Lanson, B. (1993) Comparison of I-S transformation and maturity of organic matter at elevated temperature. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 178–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, B. & Vasseur, G. (1992) Estimation of the diagenetic smectite-to-illite transformation in the time-temperature space. Am. Miner. 77, 967–976.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, 77–90.Google Scholar
Whitney, G. & Velde, B. (1993) Changes in particle morphology during illitization: an experimental study. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 209–218.Google Scholar
Yamada, H. & Nakasawa, H. (1993) Isothermal treatments of regularly interstratified montmorillonitebeidellite at hydrothermal conditions. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 726–730.Google Scholar
Yamada, H., Nakasawa, H., Yoshioka, K. & Fujita, T. (1991) Smectites in the montmorillonite series. Clay Miner. 26, 359–369.Google Scholar