• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 1995

Illite/smectite (I/S) in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Arctic Canada has been scrutinized on the basis of mineralogical analysis of 215 core and drill-cutting samples from 22 exploratory wells onshore and offshore. I/S in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin includes the following four types: random, a mixture of random and ordered, R1-ordered, and R>1-ordered I/S. A mixture of random and ordered I/S occurs in the transitional interval between random and R>1-ordered I/S, and may represent a metastable state in the ordering reaction. A widespread occurrence of the mixture in natural environments suggests that the ordering reaction may be a slow process that results in co-existence of reactants and products. K-saturation experiments show that layer charges of expandable layers in I/S are variable. High-charge expandable layers transform into illite-like layers upon simple K-saturation. K-saturation alters the composition and/or the degree of ordering in I/S, suggesting that illitization in nature can be transformational.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2012

Illite-smectite mixed layers (I-S) occurring authigenically in diagenetic and hydrothermal environments reacts toward more illite-rich phases as temperature and potassium ion concentration increase. For that reason, I-S is often used as geothermometry and/or geochronometry at the field of hydrocarbons or ore minerals exploration. Generally, I-S shows X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns of ultra-thin lamellar structures, which consist of restricted numbers of sillicate layers (normally, 5 ~ 15 layers) stacked in parallel to a-b planes. This ultra-thinness is known to decrease I-S expandability (%S) rather than theoretically expected one (short-stacking effect). We attempt here to quantify the short stacking effect of I-S using the difference of two types of expandability: one type is a maximum expandability ($%S_{Max}$) of infinite stacks of fundamental particles (physically inseparable smallest units), and the other type is an expandability of finite particle stacks normally measured using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) ($%S_{XRD}$). Eleven I-S samples from the Geumseongsan volcanic complex, Uiseong, Gyeongbuk, have been analyzed for measuring $%S_{XRD}$ and average coherent scattering thickness (CST) after size separation under 1 ${\mu}m$. Average fundamental particle thickness ($N_f$) and $%S_{Max}$ have been determined from $%S_{XRD}$ and CST using inter-parameter relationships of I-S layer structures. The discrepancy between $%S_{Max}$ and $%S_{XRD}$ (${\Delta}%S$) suggests that the maximum short-stacking effect happens approximately at 20 $%S_{XRD}$, of which point represents I-S layer structures consisting of ca. average 3-layered fundamental particles ($N_f{\approx}3$). As a result of inferring the $%S_{XRD}$ range of each Reichweite using the $%S_{XRD}$ vs. $N_f$ diagram of Kang et al. (2002), we can confirms that the fundamental particle thickness is a determinant factor for I-S Reichweite, and also that the short-stacking effect shifts the $%S_{XRD}$ range of each Reichweite toward smaller $%S_{XRD}$ values than those that can be theoretically prospected using junction probability.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2002

The object of this study was to interpret the ralationship between expandability (% $S_{XRD}$), MacEwan crystallite thickness ( $N_{CSD}$), and mean fundamental particle thickness ( $N_{F}$ ) in illite-semctite mixed layer (I-S), quantitatively. This interpretation was extracted from comparison of two structural models (MacEwan crystallite model and fundamental particle model) of I-S mixed layers. In I-S structure, % $S_{XRD}$, $N_{CSD}$, and $N_{F}$ are not independent parameters but are related to each others by particular geometric relations. % $S_{XRD}$ is dependent on $N_{CSD}$ by short-stack effect, whereas, % $S_{XRD}$ and $N_{F}$ have relation to smectite interlayer number (Ns)=( $N_{F-}$1)/(100%/% $S_{XRD-}$ $N_{F}$ . Therefore, % $S_{XRD}$ and $N_{F}$ should satisfy a specific physical condition, 1< $N_{F}$ <100%/% $S_{XRD}$, because $N_{s}$ is positive. Based on this condition, this study suggested % $S_{XRD}$ vs $N_{F}$ diagram which can be used to interpret % $S_{XRD}$, $N_{F}$ , $N_{S}$ , and ordering, quantitatively. The diagram was examined by XRD data for I-S samples from Ceumseongsan volcanic complex, Korea. I-S samples showed that $N_{F}$ departs from the physical upper-limit ( $N_{F}$ =100%/% $S_{XRD}$) with decrease in % $S_{XRD}$. This phenomenon may happen due to decrease of stacking-capability of fundamental particles with their thickening.g.s with their thickening.g.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.153-163
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• 2020

Mineral and geochemical analysis were conducted on two sections (~3.5 m) of red-brown claysilt sediments covering the gneiss and granite weathering zones in Suwon-si for establishing Quaternary paleoenvironmental changes in Korea. The sections were divided into four sedimentary layers (Unit 1-4) by vertical changes in mineral composition and chemical composition. The lowermost unit 1 was a sandy sediment with a high K-feldspar content with a significant contribution of weathered bedrock. Unit 2 was a transition layer showing intermediate characteristics. Unit 3 was a reddish brown clay-silt sediment, with a total clay content of 58% on average, and the main clay minerals were illite-smectite mixed layer minerals and hydroxy-interlayered vermiculite/smectite. Unit 3 contained almost no plagioclase, while the content of kaolin minerals derived by the plagioclase weathering was higher than in the other layers. Unit 4 had similar mineral composition and chemical properties to Unit 3, but had a higher content of plagioclase and chlorite and lower content of kaolin minerals. The chemical compositions of the sections were compared with those in other regions of Korea, suggesting the eolian origin of Units 3 and 4. The paleoenvironmental change in the sedimentary section of this region was interpreted as follows. Weathered products of gneiss and granite, which are bedrocks of this region, were eroded and deposited as sandy sediments in the periphery to form the lower layers (Unit 1, 2), followed by the deposition of the claysilty rich eolian sediments (Unit 3) during the glacial. Unit 3 was chemically weathered during the warm humid climate during the last interglacial, developing a reddish brown color. After that, a eolian sediment layer (Unit 4) was deposited during the last glacial.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2017

Reddish brown clay-silt sediments covered granitoid weathering crust in the Jangdongri area, Naju, Korea. Mineralogical and geochemical properties of the ~2 m sediment section were investigated. The sediments were composed mainly of quartz (50%) and clay minerals (45%) with minor contents of K-feldspar, goethite, hematite, and gibbsite. The clay minerals were illite, illite-smectite mixed-layers, vermiculite, hydroxy-Al vermiculite, kaolinite, and halloysite. Mineral composition varied little through the section with the minor upward enrichment of plagioclase and chlorite. Abundant illitic clay minerals indicated the remote source of the sediments because clays derived by granite weathering in Korea were dominated by kaolin minerals. A comparison with the mineral composition of Asian dust (Hwangsa) suggested that plagioclase and K-feldspar disappeared by chemical weathering after deposition, resulting in the quartz and clay-rich sediments. Plagioclase and chlorite altered to kaolin and vermiculite, respectively. Goethite and hematite derived by the weathering of iron-bearing minerals stained the sediment to reddish brown color. The mineralogical and geochemical properties of the reddish brown clay-silt sediments were consistent with those of eolian deposits identified in Korea, supporting eolian origin of the Jangdongri sediments, requiring future confirmation including age dating and isotopic analysis.