Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
In order to remove impurities, natural illite is often subjected to chemical pretreatments before analysis, the assumption being that such pretreatments have little or no effect on the composition of illite. Bulk analyses are sometimes reported before and after pretreatment (Aja et al. 1991) but, because the contribution of the impurities to the bulk composition is unknown, the possible effects of chemical pretreatments on the composition of illite cannot be assessed. Recently, Rosenberg and Hooper (1996) have shown that analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM) techniques, which exclude impurities, can be used to determine the bulk compositions of relatively pure illite by averaging the analyses of at least 50 crystals per sample. This approach can be applied to impure illite in order to determine the effect of chemical pretreatments on the composition of natural illite.