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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2018
By means of a gold decoration transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, interlaced spiral steps with a 10 A step height were observed on (001) surfaces of lath-shaped or elongated hexagonal rectorite crystals, i.e. interstratihed mica-smectite minerals, from the Goto pyrophyllite deposit in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. This is the first direct evidence to demonstrate that the growth of interstratified mica-smectite takes place by the spiral growth mechanism. The interlacing pattern is interpreted as appearing by co-operation of two hexagonal spiral layers of mica and smectite-like layers which have originated from a single dislocation and are stacked by rotation of 60°.