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Site occupancies by iron in nontronites

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Clays and Clay Minerals

Abstract

Twelve nontronites and two ferruginous smectites have been characterized with respect to Fe3+ occupancy of tetrahedral sites. The techniques used were near infrared, Fe-K X-ray absorption near-edge and X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopies, along with two X-ray diffraction techniques. The results show that calculations of the structural formulae of many nontronites should be adjusted to include Fe3+ in tetrahedral sites. The nontronite from Spokane County, Washington, (∼44% Fe2O3) is essentially an end-member with its non-siliceous tetrahedral sites occupied by Fe3+. Samples with chemical compositions similar to Garfield nontronite (∼36.5% Fe2O3) may have small amounts (<5% of total Fe3+) of tetrahedral Fe3+. Tetrahedral Fe3+ is unlikely to be present in samples containing less than ∼;34% Fe2O3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Land and Water, PMB No 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia

    W. P. Gates & P. G. Slade

  2. Environmental Geochemistry Group, LGIT-IRIGM, University Joseph Fourier and CNRS, BP 53, 38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    A. Manceau & B. Lanson

Authors
  1. W. P. Gates
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  2. P. G. Slade
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  3. A. Manceau
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  4. B. Lanson
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Correspondence to W. P. Gates.

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Gates, W.P., Slade, P.G., Manceau, A. et al. Site occupancies by iron in nontronites. Clays Clay Miner. 50, 223–239 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1346/000986002760832829

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1346/000986002760832829

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