Hydrous clay minerals are layer‐lattice silicates that comprise tetrahedrally (Si, Al, Fe 3+) and octahedrally (Al, Fe 3+, Fe 2+, Mg) coordinated cations that form either sheets or chains (Brown, 1961). The basic structural units in layer silicates are silica sheets and brucite (MgOH 2) or gibbsite (AlOH 3) sheets. Silica sheets consist of SiO 4 2− tetrahedra connected at three corners in the same plane forming a hexagonal network with the tips of the tetrahedra all pointing in the same direction. This unit is called the tetrahedral sheet. The brucite or gibbsite sheet consists of two planes of hydroxyl ions, which straddle a plane of magnesium or aluminum ions, which is octahedrally coordinated by the hydroxyls. These sheets, known as octahedral sheets, are combined so that the oxygens at the tips of the tetrahedra project into a plane of hydroxyls in the octahedral sheet and replace two‐thirds of the hydroxyls. This combination of sheets forms a layer.
Classification of clay minerals...
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Chesworth, W. et al. (2008). Clay Minerals: Silicates. In: Chesworth, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3995-9_110
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