• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.4 s.50
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• pp.355-361
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• 2006

Artificially crushed sands occupy approximately 30 percent of the total consumption in South Korea. The demand for the crushed sands is expected to rise in the future. Most manufacturers use granitic rocks to produce the crushed sands. During the manufacturing process, fine fractions (i.e., sludges or particles smaller than 63 microns) are removed through the process of flocculation. The fine fraction occupies about 15% of the total weight. The sludges are comprised of quartz, feldspars, calcite, and various kinds of clay minerals. Non-clay minerals occupy more than 75 percent of the sluges weight, according to the XRD semi-quantification measurement. Micas, kaolinites, chlorite, vermiculite, and smectites occur as minor constituents. The sludges from Jurassic granites contain more kaolinites and $14{\AA}$-types than those from the Cretaceous ones. The chemical analysis clearly shows the difference between the parent rocks and the sludges in chemical compositions. Much of colored components in the sludges was accumulated as the weathering products. Particle size analysis results show that the sludges can be categorized as silt loam in a sand-silt-clay triangular diagram. This result was for her confirmed by the hydraulic conductivity data. In South Korea, the sludges remained after crushed sand production are classified as an industrial waste because of their impermeability, and which is caused by their high silt and clay fractions.