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Properties of Goethite and Jarosite Precipitated from Acidic Groundwater, Dalarna, Sweden

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Clays and Clay Minerals

Abstract

This study characterizes various chemical and mineralogical properties of goethite and jarosite from a mine drainage environment using chemical extraction techniques, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Goethite and jarosite precipitates were collected from leachate-contaminated soils and from groundwater samples that were stored for up to 3 y. The results indicate that the soil goethites have primarily microcrystalline morphologies with moderately large mean crystallite dimensions (MCD110 ∼ 40 nm), and are superparamagnetic at room temperature and magnetically ordered at 77 K. The substitution of Al for Fe in the goethites is less than 0.03 mol/mol, and there is consequently no measured contraction in the goethite unit cell volume. The jarosite unit cell dimensions, Mössbauer parameters and chemical compositions indicate that the precipitates are primarily well-crystallized K-Na-H3O solid solutions, although the presence of poorly crystalline H3O-rich jarosite is also identified in one sample.

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  1. Institute of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18B, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Roger B. Herbert Jr.

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  1. Roger B. Herbert Jr.
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Herbert, R.B. Properties of Goethite and Jarosite Precipitated from Acidic Groundwater, Dalarna, Sweden. Clays Clay Miner. 45, 261–273 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1346/CCMN.1997.0450214

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1346/CCMN.1997.0450214

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