Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T12:45:25.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Role of Water in the Smectite-to-Illite Reaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Gene Whitney
Gene Whitney*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, MS-904, Denver, Colorado 80225
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.

A series of hydrothermal experiments was performed to determine the effect of fluid abundance on the reaction of smectite to illite. Experiments were conducted on K-saturated montmorillonite (<0.1-µm fraction) in a closed system at 250° to 400°C using run times of 1, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days at 100 MPa (1 kbar) pressure. In fluid-deficient systems (pore spaces not saturated), the rate and extent of illitization was significantly inhibited. A rock: water ratio of 20:1 (mass: mass) produced an R0 illite/smectite (I/S) having 82% smectite layers after 60 days at 250°C, whereas a rock: water ratio of 1:1 produced an I/S having 57% smectite layers under the same conditions. The effect became less pronounced at higher temperatures, with the 20:1 and the 1:1 experimental products differing by only 11% expandability at 400°C after 60 days. In addition, the low-fluid experiments produced fewer crystalline byproducts (quartz, cristobalite, chlorite) than did the fluid-rich runs, and the I/S was more difficult to disperse and orient in the fluid-deficient samples, suggesting enhanced cementation at grain contacts or the production of particle morphologies that did not lend themselves to orientation. The difference in reactivity of the smectite and I/S as a function of water content appears to be attributable to the reduced capacity for low volumes of water to mediate the dissolution, solute transport, and precipitation reactions that make up the series of reactions collectively termed illitization. Of these variables, solute transport is likely to be affected most by reduction of fluid.

Keywords

HydrothermalIlliteInterstratificationSmectiteWater
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , August 1990 , pp. 343 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © 1990, The Clay Minerals Society

References

Ahn, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1986 Transmission and analytical electron microscopy of the smectite-to-illite transition Clays & Clay Minerals 34 165 – 179.Google Scholar
Baronnet, A., 1982 Ostwald ripening in solution. The case of calcite and mica Estudios Geol. 38 185 – 198.Google Scholar
Berner, R. A., 1971 Principles of Chemical Sedimentology New York McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Colten-Bradley, V. A., 1987 Role of pressure in smectite dehydration—Effects on geopressure and smectite-to-illite transformation Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geol. Bull. 71 1414 – 1427.Google Scholar
Dunham, R. J. and Bricker, O. P., 1971 Meniscus cement Carbonate Cements Baltimore, Maryland Johns Hopkins Press 297 – 300.Google Scholar
Eberl, D. D. and Środoń, J., 1988 Ostwald ripening and interparticle-diffraction effects for illite crystals Amer. Mineral. 73 1335 – 1345.Google Scholar
Eberl, D. D., Środoń, J., Northrop, H. R., Davis, J. A. and Hayes, K. F., 1986 Potassium fixation in smectite by wetting and drying Geochemical Processes at Mineral Surfaces Washington, D.C. American Chemical Society 296 – 326.Google Scholar
Hoffman, J. and Hower, J., 1979 Clay mineral assemblages as low grade metamorphic geothermometers: Application to the thrust faulted disturbed belt of Montana, U.S.A. Aspects of Diagenesis 26 55 – 79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, J. J., Schultz, L. G., van Olphen, H. and Mumpton, F. A., 1987 Influence of shale fabric on illite/smectite diagenesis in the Oligocene Frio Formation, South Texas Proc. Int. Clay Conf. Denver, 1985 Bloomington, Indiana The Clay Minerals Society 144 – 150.Google Scholar
Howard, J. J. and Roy, D. M., 1985 Development of layer charge and kinetics of experimental smectite alteration Clays & Clay Minerals 33 81 – 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, W.-L., 1987 Smectite illitization: Effect of smectite composition Abstracts with Program Socorro, New Mexico The Clay Minerals Society 75.Google Scholar
Inoue, A., Kohyama, N., Kitagawa, R. and Watanabe, T., 1987 Chemical and morphological evidence for the conversion of smectite to illite Clays & Clay Minerals 35 111 – 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A., Velde, B., Meunier, A. and Touchard, G., 1988 Mechanism of illite formation during smectite-to-illite conversion in a hydrothermal system Amer. Mineral. 73 1325 – 1334.Google Scholar
van Koster Groos, A. F. and Guggenheim, S., 1984 The effect of pressure on the dehydration reaction of interlayer water in Na-montmorillonite (SWy-1) Amer. Mineral. 69 872 – 879.Google Scholar
van Koster Groos, A. F. and Guggenheim, S., 1986 Dehydration of K-exchanged montmorillonite at elevated temperatures and pressures Clays & Clay Minerals 34 281 – 286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Koster Groos, A. F. and Guggenheim, S., 1987 Dehydration of a Ca- and a Mg-exchanged montmorillonite (SWy-1) at elevated pressures Amer. Mineral. 72 292 – 298.Google Scholar
Lee, J. M., Ahn, J. H. and Peacor, D. R., 1985 Textures in layered silicates: Progressive changes through diagenesis and low-temperature metamorphism J. Sed. Petrol. 55 532 – 540.Google Scholar
Levorsen, A. I. (1967) Geology of Petroleum: 2nd ed., W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 724 pp.Google Scholar
Magara, K., 1978 Compaction and Fluid Migration New York Elsevier.Google Scholar
May, H. M., Kinniburgh, D. G., Helmke, P. A. and Jackson, M. L., 1986 Aqueous dissolution, solubilities and thermodynamic stabilities of common aluminosilicate clay minerals—Kaolinite and smectites Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50 1667 – 1677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortland, M. M. and Raman, K. V., 1968 Surface acidity of smectites in relation to hydration, exchangeable cation, and structure Clays & Clay Minerals 16 393 – 398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullin, J. W., 1972 Crystallization Cleveland, Ohio CRC Press.Google Scholar
Nadeau, P. H. and Bain, D. C., 1986 Composition of some smectites and diagenetic illitic clays and implications for their origin Clays & Clay Minerals 34 455 – 464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Tait, J. M., McHardy, W. J. and Wilson, M. J., 1984 Interstratified XRD characteristics of physical mixtures of elementary clay particles Clay Miner. 19 67 – 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Wilson, M. J., McHardy, W. J. and Tait, J. M., 1984 Interparticle diffraction: A new concept for interstratified clays Clay Miner. 19 757 – 769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Wilson, M. J., McHardy, W. J. and Tait, J. M., 1984 Interstratified clays as fundamental particles Science 225 923 – 925.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollastro, R. M., 1985 Mineralogical and morphological evidence for the formation of illite at the expense of illite/smectite Clays & Clay Minerals 33 265 – 274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prost, R., 1975 Etude de l’hydration des argiles: Interactions eau-minerai et mecanisme de la retention de l’eau. B: Etude d’une smectite (hectorite) Ann. Agron. 26 463 – 535.Google Scholar
Pytte, A. M., Reynolds, R. C., Naeser, N. D. and McCulloh, T. H., 1989 The thermal transformation of smectite to illite Thermal History of Sedimentary Basins New York Springer-Verlag 133 – 140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, R. C. Jr., Brindley, G. W. and Brown, G., 1980 Interstratified clay minerals Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and their X-ray Identification London Mineralogical Society 249 – 304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rieke, H. H. and Chilingarian, G. V., 1974 Compaction of Argillaceous Sediments New York Elsevier.Google Scholar
Simon, B., 1978 Kinetics of growth and dissolution of sodium chlorate in diffusion and convection regimes J. Crystal Growth 43 640 – 642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sposito, G., 1984 The Surface Chemistry of Soils New York Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sposito, G. and Prost, R., 1982 Structure of water adsorbed on smectites Chem. Rev. 82 553 – 573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunagawa, I., Koshino, Y., Asakura, M. and Yamamoto, T., 1975 Growth mechanisms of some clay minerals Fortschr. Miner. 52 217 – 224.Google Scholar
Whitney, G. and Northrop, H. R., 1988 Experimental investigation of the smectite to illite reaction: Dual reaction mechanisms and oxygen-isotope systematics Amer. Mineral. 73 77 – 90.Google Scholar
Wild, A., Greenland, D. J. and Hayes, M. H. B., 1981 Mass flow and diffusion The Chemistry of Soil Processes United Kingdom Wiley, Chichester 37 – 80.Google Scholar