To be a teacher of literature at a university today is to occupy a problematic position in the production and codification of knowledge - a fact that has generated a great deal of critical comment in recent years. But it should be noted that this position in its problematic dimensions is not necessarily new. In fact there is reason to believe that the teacher of literature has always been a propagator of an aberrant science - yet a science that in its aberrations has more to do with the methodological problems of the natural sciences than is usually credited.

It is shown that polytypes or stacking sequences of cronstedtite, an Fe-bearing trioctahedral 1:1 phyllosilicate, can be determined using near-atomic high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). By viewing along the [010], [310] and directions (orthohexagonal indexing), the four groups of the standard polytypes can be distinguished. Imaging along the [100], [110] and directions allows determination of the polytypes in each group. The polytypic sequences of groups A and C are intergrown at the monolayer level in cronstedtite from Lostwithiel, England, which is a new insight if compared with previous suggestions that layer stackings characteristic of different groups do not occur together. The HRTEM images also revealed the relationship between the layer polarity and the morphology of the cronstedtite crystals, where the tetrahedral sheet side points towards the top of the truncated pyramidal shape of the crystal.

The in-depth perturbation of vicinal water by the surfaces of montmorillonite layers was investigated by relating the swelling pressure, Π, of the montmorillonite layers to the H-O-H bending frequency, ν2, of the interlayer water. For this purpose, an oriented montmorillonite gel was deposited on a porous filter in an environmental chamber. On its underside the filter was in contact with a solution maintained at atmospheric pressure. By admitting nitrogen gas at a known pressure to the environmental chamber, water was squeezed from the gel into the solution until equilibrium was reached and Π equalled the applied pressure. Then the gel was divided into 2 parts. One part was used for the gravimetric determination of the water content, mw/mc. It was possible, therefore, to determine mw/mc as a function of Π. The other part of the sample was transferred to an FTIR spectrometer where the ν2 of the water within it was measured by attenuated total reflectance. Thus, the same samples were used to determine the dependence of both Π and ν2 on mw/mc. It was found that Π and ν2 were both exponential functions of mc/mw and so a linear relation was found between ln(Π + 1) and ln(ν2/ν2°), where ν2° is the H-O-H bending frequency of bulk water. These results strongly support the conclusion that the in-depth perturbation of the water by the surfaces of the montmorillonite layers is primarily responsible for both the development of Π and the departure of ν2 from ν2°.

In 1987, Sir Edmund Leach, the most influential British social anthropologist of his generation, startled a conference in Norwich of the Association of Social Anthropologists by declaring that ethnographic monographs were essentially fictions, expressing the personality of the author. When asked what should be the goal of the anthropologist, he replied, ‘To write another War and Peace’. This and some similar papers were published by him and have come in for much criticism: for instance, from a leading anthropologist of the next generation, Adam Kuper, who has regretted that Leach made such a concession to fashionable post-modernism, the ‘literary turn’ in anthropology, shortly before his death (Kuper, 1999: 15-35).

Estimations of the external specific surface areas (S.S.A.) by the N2-BET method of clay separates that were further fractionated by the high gradient magnetic separation technique revealed that the magnetic fractions had consistently lower S.S.A. compared to non-magnetic fractions. This phenomenon has been attributed, in the past, to the intimate association of Fe-oxides with silicate clays. It is the contention of this study that this reasoning is insufficient due to the following reasons. X-ray diffractograms (XRD) confirmed that heavy minerals were abundant in the magnetic fractions of these clays. Total chemical analyses and energy dispersive X-ray analyses showed that these heavy minerals contained Fe and Ti, which were not completely extracted by the dithionite-citrate bicarbonate (DCB) treatments. Crystallinity and quantity of these oxides in the different fractions did not show any relationships with the S.S.A. Lower S.S.A. were found in the magnetic fractions of both coarse and fine clays in the untreated as well as DCB-treated samples. The average particle density of the magnetic fractions was found to be higher than the non-magnetic fractions, resulting in an underestimation of the S.S.A. This underestimation was further proven when clay-sized illmenite (density = 4.79 Mg m−3) was found to have lower S.S.A. than quartz (density = 2.65 Mg m−3) and well-crystallized Georgia kaolinite (density = 2.61 Mg m−3), even though the illmenite particles were smaller in size compared to the kaolinite particles and similar in size compared to the quartz particles. It is, therefore, proposed that the specific surface areas should be expressed either on a volumetric basis or corrected for differences in density to avoid underestimations when heavy minerals are present in the samples.

Some religious groups and trends of thought in the Turkic world, in Asia and Europe, have for several centuries nurtured an unusual vision of nature in which old animistic and shamanistic beliefs, and even nomads’ Buddhist beliefs, are combined with Arab philosophy stemming from Neo-Platonism and Muslim mysticism (Sufism). This vision, which in fact is not homogeneous since it exists in several variants, claims that all animate and inanimate creatures - humans, animals, plants and stones - are receptacles of the same ‘vital energy’ and are consequently intimately bound up with one another, and may even migrate towards each of their respective modes of being, animal, plant or mineral; hence the existence of stone people, tree people and animal people. This article aims to trace the origins of this vision of nature and look at its current influence, paying particular attention to the ‘ethics of the environment’ (çevre ahlakï) it has inspired in recent years in Turkey.

Area-weighted thickness distributions of fundamental illite particles for samples of illite and illite-smectite from seven locations (including bentonites and hydrothermally altered pyroclastics) were measured by Pt-shadowing technique, by transmission electron microscopy. Most thickness distributions are described by lognormal distributions, which suggest a unique crystallization process. The shapes of lognormal distributions of fundamental illite particles can be calculated from the distribution mean because the shape parameters α and β2 are interrelated: β2= 0.107α − 0.03. This growth process was simulated by the mathematical Law of Proportionate Effect that generates lognormal distributions. Simulations indicated that illite particles grow from 2-nm thick illite nuclei by surface-controlled growth, i.e., the rate of growth is restricted by how rapid crystallization proceeds given a near infinite supply of reactants, and not by the rate of supply of reactants to the crystal surface. Initially formed, 2-nm thick crystals may nucleate and grow within smectite interlayers from material produced by dissolution of single smectite 2:1 layers, thereby transforming the clay from randomly interstratified (Reichweite, R = 0) to ordered (R = 1) illite-smectite after the smectite single layers dissolve. In this initial period of illite nucleation and growth, during which expandable layers range from 100 to 20%, illite crystals grow parallel to [001]* direction, and the dimensions of the (001) plane are confined to the size of the original smectite 2:1 layers. After nucleation ceases, illite crystals may continue to grow by surface-controlled growth, and the expandable-layer content ranges from 20 to 0%. This latter period of illitization is characterized by three-dimensional growth. Other crystal-growth mechanisms, such as Ostwald ripening, supply-controlled growth, and the coalescence of smectite layers, do not produce the observed evolution of α and β2and the observed shapes of crystal thickness distributions.

Swelling clays may play a major role in the underground disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) in deep geological formations. A multibarrier concept including a waste container, a steel overpack, an engineered barrier consisting of compacted clay (buffer) and the host rock is a potential technique for such HLW disposal. It is anticipated that H2 will be the main gas generated, mainly by anaerobic metal corrosion during disposal lifetime. After complete resaturation, the clay barrier will have a very low permeability and H2 may accumulate in the space between the overpack and the clay barrier. This could result in pressures exceeding the resistance of the clay and damage to the entire engineered barrier system (EBS).

The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has performed an experimental program on H2 gas migration in a French clay referenced Fo-Ca. The tests were conducted with a specific odometer-type cell developed by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Corporation (PNC) in Japan. Permeability tests on compacted Fo-Ca clay samples of specific dry densities between 1.6 and 1.9 and for water saturation degrees between 70 and 100% provided significant H2 permeability data (ranging from 10−15 to 10−21 m2). Gas migration experiments were also performed to study the behavior of Fo-Ca clay under high gas pressure. Two kinds of gas transport threshold pressures were detected in unsaturated compacted clay. The first one, called “critical pressure”, is the pressure over which a gas outflow migrates into the clay. This pressure probably exceeds the capillary pressure of the largest pores within the clay. The second one, called “breakthrough pressure”, is detected with increasing gas injection pressure. A sudden rise of gas outflow is subsequently observed. The occurrence of the gas breakthrough is associated with the aperture and propagation of preferential gas transport pathways in the clay. This is apparently linked to the hydromechanical properties and stress state of the clay. When clay samples are not fully watersaturated, the critical pressure is always lower than the breakthrough pressure. However, when the clay is saturated, the 2 pressures appear to be very close. Finally, this study showed that breakthrough pressure—a key parameter for the long-term stability of the clay buffer—varies considerably with the gas injection increments and with the size of the sample. The results of these experiments are consistent with those reported previously by other investigators.

I shall start with a joke and go on with a riddle. The joke first: in Woody Allen's film Take the Money and Run young Virgil, a future criminal, who is clumsy and unlucky, suddenly comes into view, in the middle of the school band, going along the streets of the town playing the cello; in this brief episode the mismatch between the instrument and the situation is complete, absolute, since the cellist could obviously not follow the rhythm of the procession. The riddle next: why do policemen always go around in pairs? Because one can read and the other can write. So the two skills complement each other unreliably, whereas they ought to exist together in the same person.

Polytype diversity of hydrotalcite-like minerals is mainly a function of the nature of the interlayer anion. Among the varieties with CO32− anions, only two- and three-layer polylypes having the same structure as manasseite and hydrotalcite have been confirmed. Stichtite and reevesite, which have been previously identified as six-layer polytypes, are in fact three-layer polytypes.

Among SO42− varieties, one-layer and three-layer polytypes have been identified, but the one-layer types are only present in more hydrated minerals with larger interlayer spacings. The three-layer varieties are of three different polytypes, with both P- and O-types of interlayers. Both rhombohedral and hexagonal varieties exist. Interlayer type may change during hydration-dehydration or anion exchange. Thus, in contrast with the CO32−-bearing minerals, a complete description of the polytype of the SO42−-bearing minerals cannot be made by simply indicating the number of the brucite-like layers in the unit cell.

The two-layer unit cell seen in refined crystal structures of some minerals with SO42− interlayers is not due to a doubled periodicity of alternation of brucite-like layers but to periodicity of interlayer anions, or layer cations.

We report the first application of 39K solid-state NMR to the study of tecto- and phyllosilicates. Under high field (11.7 Tesla) and with the application of a spin-echo sequence, informative 39K spectra can be obtained for several compounds of interest to the geologist and the agronomist. Tectosilicates and phyllosilicates can be distinguished from the uncorrected frequency (δCG) of the observed NMR peak. A series of montmorillonites submitted to increasing numbers of wetting and drying cycles was studied in order to discriminate between mobile and “fixed” forms of K+: when the spectra are run on hydrated samples, two different signals are observed corresponding to K+ in different hydration states, and NMR data can be correlated with the amount of exchangeable K+ measured by ion exchange. Thus, it appears that NMR can provide useful information on K fixation complementary to classical chemical methods.

The effect of phosphate on the formation of Fe oxides from Fe(II) salts is important because phosphate is a ubiquitous anion in natural environments. For this reason, the products formed by oxidation of phosphate-containing Fe(II)SO4 solutions neutralized with bicarbonate were characterized. The rate of oxidation of Fe(II) increased with increasing P/Fe atomic ratio to 0.2 in the initial solution. Goethite (α-FeOOH) or lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) or both were produced and identified by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The ratio between lepidocrocite and goethite increased with increasing P/Fe. In the 5–8.5 pH range, the formation of goethite predominated at P/Fe < 0.005, but only lepidocrocite was detected by XRD for P/Fe > 0.02. Thus, phosphate favors lepidocrocite formation because lepidocrocite has (1) a layered structure (like its precursor green rust), and (2) a structure less dense than that of goethite, thereby requiring less complete removal of the green-rust interlayer phosphate to form. The lepidocrocite crystals were platy, with prominent {010} faces and the thickness of the plates decreased with increasing P/Fe from >25 nm for P/Fe < 0.005 to <5 nm for P/Fe > 0.1. The solubility of lepidocrocite in acid oxalate was nearly complete for P/Fe > 0.03. The lepidocrocite contained occluded phosphate, i.e., phosphate that could not be desorbed by alkali treatment. The decrease in the b unit-cell length with increasing P/Fe suggests that lepidocrocite may contain structural P.

Iron oxides in surface environments generally form at temperatures of 25 ± 10°C, but synthesis experiments are usually done at higher temperatures to increase the rate of crystallization. To more closely simulate natural environments, the transformation of 2-line ferrihydrite to hematite and goethite at 25°C in the presence of different Al concentrations and at pH values from 4 to 7 was studied in a long-term (16–20 y) experiment. Aluminum affects the hydrolysis and charging behavior of 2-line ferrihydrite and retards crystallization. Al also promotes the formation of hematite over goethite and leads to multidomainic discoidal and framboidal crystals instead of rhombohedral crystals. The strong hematite-promoting effect of Al appears to be the result of a lower solubility of the Al-containing ferrihydrite precursor relative to pure ferrihydrite. Hematite incorporates Al into its structure, as is shown by a decrease in the a and c-cell lengths and a decrease in magnetic hyperfine fields (Mössbauer spectroscopy). With hematite formed at low-temperature, these decreases were, however, smaller for the cell length and greater for the magnetic field than for hematite produced at higher temperatures. Both phenomena are removed by heating the hematite at 200°C. They are attributed to structural OH and/or structural defects. The relative content of Al in the structure is lower for hematite formed at 25°C than for hematites synthesized at higher temperatures (80 and 500°C). The maximum possible substitution of one sixth of the Fe positions was not achieved, similar to soil hematites. These results show that properties of widely distributed soil Al-containing hematites can reflect formation environment.

Products resulting from the reaction of toluene with Cu(II)-montmorillonite were analyzed using GC/MS, HPLC/MS, GPC, and FTIR methods. Numerous oligomers of toluene were observed, extending at least as high as the resolution limit (1500 g/mol) of the GPC column. The FTIR spectrum of the nonvolatile components of the extract was very similar to that of liquid toluene. GC/MS data on the volatile components revealed dimers, trimers, and a multitude of transmethylated products. Oligomerization proceeded via both ring-ring (i.e., polyphenyl) and ring-methyl linkages. The primary trans-methylated products were tert-butylbenzene and isopropylxylene, indicating a competition between ringand side-chain methylations. The side-chain substitutions cannot be explained in terms of the aromatic radical cation intermediate which typically forms in arene/clay reactions. A consideration of alkylbenzene reactions observed in various other media suggests that the present transmethylation reactions occur via a benzyl cation intermediate.

A theoretical model describing the interaction between crystalline swelling and cation exchange selectivity is proposed for expanding 2:1 phyllosilicates. The model is based on the assumption that changes in basal spacing of a clay are phase changes, and that each phase of a clay has a different selectivity constant for a particular cation exchange reaction. Energy barriers stabilize the various phases over a limited range of interlayer ionic composition. These energy barriers cause hysteresis in crystalline swelling, which in turn causes hysteresis in cation exchange. Results are presented for an experiment involving Ba-Mg exchange on a synthetic fiuoro-hectorite. The results demonstrate key aspects of the proposed model, including a correlation between measured selectivity coefficients and basal spacings (R2 = 0.85), an abrupt change in basal spacing that corresponds with an abrupt change in selectivity and corresponding hysteresis in crystalline swelling and cation exchange selectivity. The results also demonstrate increased selectivity for the preferred cation (Ba) at high solution mole fraction of the preferred cation. This trend is opposite of that observed for heterogeneous natural smectites but consistent with predictions of the model for a homogeneous smectite.