Nordstrandite was obtained synthetically by precipitation of Al(OH)3 at pH 9.0 to 11.0 in citrate or malate systems with Al: carboxylic acid molar ratios of 10–100 in the absence and in the presence of montmorillonite. Examination by transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed that the nordstrandite had a tabular morphology in the clay-free systems with Al: carboxylic acid ratio >50. Because the inhibiting effect on crystallization of the citrate or malat e anion decreases with increase in pH, the crystal size varied from <2 μm at pH 10 to 5 μm at pH 11. With increasing concentration of citrate or malate, the nordstrandite crystals became more elongated in the c-direction probably due to organic anion occupation of the coordination sites of Al on the edge faces parallel to the c-axis. Irregular growth along the c-axis was probably due to steric hindrance by the organic ligands distorting the arrangement of the unit layers of nordstrandite.

The catalytic effect of montmorillonite on the formation of nordstrandite was confirmed. Nordstrandite synthesized in the presence of montmoriUonite at pH 9.0 presented an ill-defined ovoidal outline (0.2–0.5 μm), some showing shafts of bayerite growing from the center. At higher pH, where conditions for crystalline growth were again more favorable, nordstrandite crystals nucleated on the montmorillonite surfaces and condensed in clusters of weak face-to-face associations of plates.

Nordstrandite from Lages represents the first occurrence of this mineral in an oxisoil that does not involve the influence of a calcareous substrate. This is also the first reported occurrence in Brazil. Nordstrandite occurs near the city of Lages only in the weathered bedrock facies, mostly where the circulation of meteoric water is restricted. There is also a close association between nordstrandite and the weathering of modified pseudoleucite structures. The interaction of meteoric water and feldspathic alkaline country rock with uncommon texture and mineralogy (rich in nepheline, sodalite, nosean, analcime and natrolite) promotes the development of solutions enriched in alkaline ions with basic pH, necessary to form nordstrandite. A detailed study by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy in natural or chemically leached samples was performed to identify the Al(OH)3 polymorphs of gibbsite and nordstrandite.

OH-A1 solutions were prepared by adding appropriate amounts of NaOH to A1C13 to obtain OH/Al mole ratios of 2.0, 2.5, 2.7, 3.0, and 3.3 in the final suspension. Solid Na2SO4 and Georgia kaolinite (KGa-2) were added individually and jointly to the OH-Al solutions. All samples were aged for 30, 70, and 180 d. X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry were used to characterize precipitates. Bayerite, gibbsite, and nordstrandite crystallized at mole ratios of 3.0 and 3.3, with bayerite being the most abundant. A morphology of clusters of triangular pyramids is described for bayerite. Despite the aging duration, only noncrystalline Al compounds were obtained in mole ratios of 2.0, 2.5, or 2.7. The addition of sulfate to OH-A1 solutions in mole ratios of 2.0 and 2.5 produced crystalline basic aluminum sulfates of variable morphology, but with similar chemical compositions. These phases lost crystallinity with aging. The product from a 2.7 OH-Al solution was X-ray amorphous hydroxysulfate. In contrast, products obtained at mole ratios of 3.0 and 3.3 contained no sulfate ion, which restricted the formation of gibbsite, bayerite, and nordstrandite. The addition of kaolinite to the solutions in OH/A1 mole ratios of 3.0 and 3.3 favored the formation of nordstrandite. The simultaneous addition of sulfate and kaolinite to the OH-A1 solutions in mole ratios of 2.0 and 2.5 produced prevalent sulfate over kaolinite, whereas the opposite occurred at mole ratios 3.0 and 3.3.

Substantial studies have been carried out to investigate the mechanism of the formation of Al(OH)3 polymorphs. The influence of the nature of Al precipitation products on the formation of Al(OH)3 polymorphs still remains obscure. In this study, X-ray diffraction, infrared and thermal analyses, and electron microscopic observations of the Al precipitates formed at the initial pH 8.2 and at a citric acid/Al molar ratio of 0.01 and aged for 3 hr to 60 days revealed that the transformation from the initially formed noncrystalline materials to pseudoboehmite occurred through the formation of intermediate materials with various degrees of ordering and sizes of particles that apparently had a wide range of solubility. By increasing the pH of the suspension of precipitation products of Al to 10.0 after 3 hr and 3, 11, 31, and 60 days or longer, the crystalline precipitation products were hayerite, nordstrandite and bayerite, nordstrandite and pseudoboehmite, pseudoboehmite and gibbsite, and pseudoboehmite, respectively. This work shows evidence that, as the nature of the starting Al precipitates changed, the rate of their dissolution apparently changed, and various Al(OH)3 polymorphs consequently formed. Therefore, the data substantiate the hypothesis that the mechanism of the formation of an Al(OH)3 polymorph is determined by the rate of its nucleation, which is, in turn, influenced by the rate of dissolution of the noncrystalline or poorly ordered Al-oxides initially formed.