Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:28:22.325Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Corrensite: A Study of the Transformation of Saponite to Corrensite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Herman E. Roberson
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, New York 13902
R. C. Reynolds Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
David M. Jenkins
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Binghamton, New York 13902
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Hydrothermal synthesis experiments were conducted to study the transition from smectite to corrensite. A mixture of oxides with the bulk composition of corrensite—Na0.4(Si6.4Al1.6)(Mg7.8Al1.2)-O20(OH)10—was sealed in platinum capsules with 29–37 wt. % water. One set of samples was treated in cold-seal vessels at 500°C and 2 kbar for durations of 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h; the other set was treated at 350°C and 2 kbar for periods of 12 to 89 d. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of oriented aggregates from treated products were obtained from ethylene glycol-solvated and air-dried preparations. Samples were also heated to 350°C either in a calibrated muffle furnace, removed and quickly placed in a nitrogen filled chamber on the diffractometer, or were heated at 350°C by using a calibrated heating stage mounted on the diffractometer.

Initial mineral assemblages at both temperatures contained only saponite and serpentine. In experiments at 500°C, saponite transformed to corrensite within 6 h; in experiments at 350°C, the transformation occurred as early as 22 d. Increased experiment times at both temperatures produced increasing amounts of well-crystallized corrensite, as indicated by several well-defined XRD peaks. No evidence of a randomly interstratified chlorite-smectite (C-S) precursor to corrensite was found. The identification of pure smectite, as opposed to highly-expanded randomly interstratified C-S, was possible only when clays were dehydrated on a heating stage on the diffractometer.

These results call for a new examination of hydrothermally-altered basalt that has been reported to contain randomly interstratified C-S as an intermediate step in the reaction of smectite to corrensite or chlorite. These results also strengthen the view held by increasing numbers of investigators that corrensite should be regarded as a single phase, not as a mixed-layered phyllosilicate.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1999, The Clay Minerals Society

References

Beaufort, D. Baronnet, A. Lanson, B. and Meunier, A., 1997 Corrensite: A single phase or a mixed-layer phyllosilicate in the saponite-to-chlorite conversion series? a case study of Sancerre-Couy deep drill hole (France) American Mineralogist 82 109124 10.2138/am-1997-1-213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bettison, L.A. and Sciffman, P., 1988 Compositional and structural variations of phyllosilicates from the Point Sal ophiolite, California American Mineralogist 73 6276.Google Scholar
Bettison-Varga, L. and Mackinnon, I.D.R., 1997 The role of randomly mixed-layered chlorite/smectite in the transformation of smectite to chlorite Clays and Clay Minerals 45 506516 10.1346/CCMN.1997.0450403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A. and Utada, M., 1991 Smectite-to-chlorite transformation in thermally metamorphosed volcanoclastic rocks in the Kamkita area, northern Honshu, Japan American Mineralogist 76 628640.Google Scholar
Kristmannsdottir, H., 1979 Alteration of basaltic rocks by hydrothermal activity at 100-300°C Developments in Sedimentology 27 359367 10.1016/S0070-4571(08)70732-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luttge, A. and Metz, P., 1991 Mechanism and kinetics of the reaction 1 dolomite + 2 quartz = 1 diopside + 2 CO2 investigated by powder experiments Canadian Mineralogist 29 803821.Google Scholar
Luttge, A. and Metz, P., 1993 Mechanism and kinetics of the reaction 1 dolomite + 2 quartz. = 1 diopside + 2 CO2: A comparison of rock-sample and of powder experiments Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 115 155164 10.1007/BF00321217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacEwan, D.M.C. Wilson, M.J., Brindley, G.W. and Brown, G., 1980 Interlayer and intercalation complexes of clay minerals Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and Their X-ray Identification London Mineralogical Society 197248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarty, D.K. and Reynolds, R.C. Jr., 1995 Rotationally disordered illite/smectite in Paleozoic K-bentonites Clays and Clay Minerals 43 271283 10.1346/CCMN.1995.0430302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, D.M. and Reynolds, R.C., 1997 X-ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals New York Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mooney, R.W. Keenan, A.C. and Wood, L.A., 1952 Adsorption of water vapor by montmorillonite Journal of the American Chemical Society 74 13671374 10.1021/ja01126a001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, R.C., 1985 NEWMOD. A computer program for the calculation of the basal diffraction intensities of mixed-layered clay minerals .Google Scholar
Reynolds, R.C., Reynolds, R.C. and Walker, J., 1993 Three-dimensional powder X-ray diffraction from disordered illite: Simulation and interpretation of the diffraction patterns Computer Applications to X-ray Diffraction Methods 4478.Google Scholar
Robinson, D. Bevins, R.E. and Rowbotham, G., 1993 The characterization of mafic phyllosilicates in low-grade metabasalts from eastern Greenland American Mineralogist 78 377390.Google Scholar
Schiffman, P. and Fridleiffson, G.O., 1991 The smectite-chlorite transition in drillhole NJ-15, Nesjavellir geothermal field, Iceland: XRD, BSE and electron microprobe investigations Journal of Metamorphic Geology 9 679696 10.1111/j.1525-1314.1991.tb00558.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffman, P. and Staudigel, H., 1995 The smectite to chlorite transition in a fossil seamount hydrothermal system: The basement complex of La Palma, Canary Islands Journal of Metamorphic Geology 13 487498 10.1111/j.1525-1314.1995.tb00236.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shau, Y.-H. Peacor, D.R. and Essene, S.E., 1990 Corrensite and mixed-layer chlorite/corrensite in metabasalt from northern Taiwan: TEM/AEM, EMPA, XRD and optical studies Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 105 123142 10.1007/BF00678980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shau, Y.-H. and Peacor, D.R., 1992 Phyllosilicates in hydro-fhermally altered basalts from DSDP Hole 504B, Leg 83—a TEM and AEM study Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 112 119133 10.1007/BF00310959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siefert, K., 1970 Low-temperature compatibility relations of cordierite in haplopelites of the system K2O-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O Journal of Petrology 11 7399 10.1093/petrology/11.1.73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, D.R. and Guthrie, G.D. Jr. Livi, K.J.T. and Reynolds, R.C. Jr., 1990 High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction of mixed-layer illite/smectite: Experimental results Clays and Clay Minerals 38 113 10.1346/CCMN.1990.0380101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, B., 1973 Phase equilibrium in the system MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O Mineralogical Magazine 39 297312 10.1180/minmag.1973.039.303.06.CrossRefGoogle Scholar