Clay mineralogy of a soil sequence in slope deposits derived from hauptdolomit (dolomite) in the bavarian alps

Clay mineralogy was determined in a sequence of soils formed in slope deposits derived from Hauptdolomit and ranging from a Mullrendzina (Rendoll) to a Terra fusca (Eutrochrept) and a Parabraunerde-Terra fusca (Hapludalf). Results indicated an alteration of illite to hydroxyl-Al interlayered clay in the course of soil formation. No evidence was found of formation of kaolinite in these soils. This clearly confirms all soils to have been formed under a recent cold humid climate. Furthermore clay mineral weathering starts even before carbonates are dissolved and completely removed from these soils.     

尼日利亚热带雨林地区的内陆山谷中土壤发育和肥力特征: 矿物成分和粒度分布

The particle-size distribution and mineralogical composition of the clay (< 2 μm) and fine-sand (0.25--0.10 mm) fractions in soils of two inland valleys in Abakaliki and Bende, Southeast Nigeria, were investigated to provide basic information on soil-forming processes and agricultural potentials. These soils were silty or clayey, deriving from Cretaceous or Tertiary shale materials. The particle-size distribution and its computation on a clay-free basis revealed relatively remarkable lithologic breaks in a couple of pedons. The effect of lithologic discontinuities on soil mineralogical composition was not, however, conspicuous. Petrographic investigation revealed that quartz predominantly comprised the fine-sand fraction in the soils at both study sites. Nevertheless, the clay mineralogical composition of the soils was a mixture of kaolinite, irregularly interstratified smectite-illite intergrades (S/I), hydroxyl-Al interlayered 2:1 type clays (HICs), vermiculite, smectite, halloysite and illite along with fine-sized quartz in Abakaliki. The soils of Bende predominantly contained smectite, which was partially interlayered with hydroxyl-Al and kaolinite. It is suggested that seasonal floodwater has slowed the disintegration of weatherable clay minerals inherited from the shale, while quartz originating from the sandstone is predominant in the fine-sand fraction. Additionally, a possible soil-forming process observed at the both study sites was ferrolysis, which was indicated by a clear decreasing pattern of HICs downward in the soil profiles. The entry of S/I and vertical distribution patterns for a couple of clay minerals in the pedon suggested that the soils in Abakaliki have developed under the significant influence of aeolian dust delivered by the harmattan. The findings might describe a site-specific deposition pattern of harmattan dusts as well as hydromorphic soil-forming processes in the wetlands of the inland valleys.     

层柱黏土引水体材料及其在干旱地区植树造林中的应用

为解决干旱地区植树造林中的地表干土层和浇水困难问题而提出黏土引水体材料。对原生膨润土进行层柱化处理并测得了其不同交联剂比例下的材料导水性能,采用X射线衍射、热重、孔隙度分析等测试手段对材料的微结构和热性能进行了表征。研究结果表明,对黏土材料进行改性能显著提高其导水性能,材料的比表面积的增大、孔数量的增加以及孔结构的复杂化是其导水性能改善的主要原因。该材料对提升干旱地区地表层下的水分,提高苗木成活率有明显的效果。     

Review Article. What are the nature and formation conditions of hydroxy‐interlayered minerals (HIMs) in soil?

Primary minerals of the parent material undergo weathering during the formation of terrestrial soils to varying extent. As a result, secondary minerals develop, which comprise, among many others, hydroxy‐interlayered minerals (HIMs). These minerals have formed by interlayering of hydroxy‐metal complexes (especially of Al³⁺, also Mg²⁺, Fe^2+/3+) into micas, expansible 2:1 phyllosilicates and forming oligomers, or by weathering of primary chlorite. The degree of interlayer filling and the stability of these fillings affect several physico‐chemical soil properties, for instance the cation exchange capacity. Although many studies have been conducted on formation, occurrence, and properties of HIMs in soil during the last decades, several challenges still exist. These challenges include analytical identification and quantification of HIMs in soil, the nature of the interlayer filling and the identification of favorable conditions in soil for the formation of HIMs. In order to deepen the understanding of formation, properties, and fate of HIMs in soil, we critically reviewed the available literature. Based on the review, we recommend using a new structural model that enables quantification of hydroxy‐interlayered smectite in soil by X‐ray diffractometry, laboratory experiments on the formation and preservation of different types of interlayers and considering the temporal and spatial dimension of the formation of HIMs in soil in more detail.     

Iron oxide and clay minerals and their relation to colours of red and yellow podzolic soils near Sydney,Australia

The iron oxide and clay minerals in some typical red and yellow podzolic soils from New South Wales have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and infra-red spectroscopy. The dominant iron oxide mineral is goethite containing about 13–14 mol % AlOOH, this being the mineral which gives the yellow soils their characteristic colour. The red soils also contain finely divided hematite which masks the colour of the goethite. Lepidocrocite was not detected in any of the soils examined. The dominant clay minerals are kaolinite and dioctahedral interstratified illite-smectite, the latter being more concentrated in the finer clay fractions, especially in soils developed on calcareous greywacke. In the red podzolic soil developed on Ashfield shale, illite-smectite is strongly interlayered with well-ordered aluminous material. Dickite occurs in this soil.     

Source minerals and formation of partially interlayered vermiculites in Dystrochrepts derived from Tertiary sediments

The formation of partially interlayered vermiculite (PIV) was studied in six Dystrochrepts derived from Tertiary sediments. Mineralogy of silt and clay fractions of gravel and fine earth separated from surface and subsurface samples were determined by X-ray diffraction. PIV, mica, vermiculite and regularly interstratified 1:1 PIV/chlorite (PIV/Ch(l:l)) were the dominant clay minerals. The contents of these minerals were compared between the specific particle-size fractions of gravel and fine earth for each sample and the difference was interpreted in terms of mineral transformation associated with soil formation. PIV was formed from mica and PIV/Ch(l:l) in soils with a pH(KCl) of 3.5 to 4.0 and little organic matter. Vermiculite was formed from mica in surface soils with a low pH (pH(KCl) 3.5) and abundant organic matter. PIV would form directly from mica without an intermediary phase of vermiculite and form from PIV/Ch(l:l) by partial dissolution of interlayers in chlorite layers.     

Incipient podzolization and weathering caused by complexation in a forest Cambisol on loess as revealed by a soil solution study

Surface podzolization has so far been diagnosed from morphological observations, selective extraction and mineralogical investigations. We studied this process in two Cambisol profiles developed in loess, one with a fibrimor humus and the other with a dysmoder humus, by characterizing the chemical composition and the complexing properties of the soil solution. The solutions were sampled bimonthly for 3 years at four depths (4, 8, 13, 25 cm) using both zero‐tension and low‐tension capillary‐wick lysimeters. The leachates from the Ah horizon of the soil with fibrimor contained less nitrate, sulphate and calcium than those from the one with a dysmoder because there was less bioturbation and mineralization in it. Both the complexation capacity and the density of ligand binding sites were larger in the soil solutions of the Ah (4 cm) and AB (8 cm) horizons of the soil with the fibrimor. In this soil, the complexing properties of the liquid phase induced a depletion of inorganic monomeric aluminium. In this environment, the hydroxy interlayered 2:1 clay minerals lose their Al‐interlayers and transform into vermiculite and smectite, which in turn weather, producing large amounts of magnesium in the soil solution. This was found to be a major characteristic of weathering by complexation and incipient podzolization in the Cambisol with the fibrimor. In this process, nitric acid probably contributes to mineral dissolution.     

Quantitative determination of minerals in acid forest soils of granite

A procedure for quantifying minerals in particle size fractions of fine earth (< 2 mm) is presented. Mineral fractions of the acid forest soils are characterised by various transition products. Transitional minerals between illite and vermiculite or smectite, polyhydroxy-Al polymers interlayered in smectite and vermiculite, as well as poorly crystalline compounds are present. Normative calculations with standard minerals, generally applied to rocks, cannot be used to quantify precisely minerals of these soil samples. Conventional qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses are therefore completed by microanalyses of well-identifiable minerals. The calculation procedure is based mainly on a system of simultaneous linear equations. These are set up from the chemical contents of a particle size fraction on the one hand and from the corresponding element contents of single minerals on the other hand. The contribution of single minerals to overall parameters can be calculated by programmed algorithms. The methodology was adjusted to different particle size fractions.     

Interlayer materials of partially interlayered vermiculites in Dystrochrepts derived from Tertiary sediments

Interlayer materials of partially interlayered vermiculites (PIV) in 15 Dystrochrepts derived from Tertiary sediments were analysed by dissolution with hot 1/3M sodium citrate or 0.15 M oxalate-oxalic acid in combination with XRD and IR spectroscopy. Both the citrate and oxalate treatments dissolved Al from all soil clays. The dissolution of Al by the citrate treatment paralleled the dissolution of Si and the interlayer collapse of PIV, whereas that by the oxalate treatment did not, indicating that the interlayer materials contain not only Al but Si. The materials dissolved by the citrate treatment had a molar Si/Al ratio ranging from 0.72 to 0.24 that decreased with the increasing interlayering of PIV. Differential IR spectroscopy indicated the dissolution of aluminosilicates possibly having Si-O, Al-OH and Si-O-Al bonds, but not Si-O-Si bonds. The extent of interlayering of PIV showed a good correlation with the amount of Al dissolved by the citrate treatment and increased with increasing soil pH (H₂O) from 4.5 to 5.2 and with decreasing exchangeable Al in soil.
Formation of a hydroxy-Al sheet partially bonded with Si-tetrahedra was suggested as a possible model of the interlayer structure of PIV. The differences between PIV in the studied Inceptisols and other soils are discussed.     

Aluminium chemistry in two contrasted acid forest soils and headwater streams impacted by acid deposition,Vosges mountains,N.E. France

Al chemistry was studied in two acidic watersheds, one with a podzol, the other with an acid brown soil, in the Vosges mountains (N.E. France), by analysing both leaching and centrifugation soil solutions and spring waters over 3 yr. In the podzol, Al was mobilized in the eluvial horizons under the predominant influence of organic acidity, then leached down the profile as organic and F-bound Al. Strong undersaturation with respect to proto-imogolite and imogolite showed that the proto-imogolite theory of podzolization could not apply. Al was transferred from the soil to spring water mostly as Al³⁺ and Al-F. Al³⁺, as well as additional minor species (AlOH²⁺, AlSO₄ ⁺), originated from the redissolution of the top of the spodic horizons under the influence of both soil solution acidity and the occurrence of mobile anions derived from atmospheric deposition. Conversely, in the acid brown soil, Al mobilization was regulated by nitrate and occurred mainly as Al³⁺. Most of Al was retained in the deep soil and only traces of monomeric Al reached spring water. In the podzol eluvial horizons, soil solutions were undersaturated with respect to all relevant mineral phases and their chemical composition agree with the concept of a mobilization of Al from the solid soil organic Al and a control of Al³⁺ activity by complexation reaction with the solid and soluble soil organic matter and F. In the acid brown soil, soil solutions were found to be in equilibrium with natural alunite, and the formation of this mineral, if confirmed, would account for the occurrence of 'open' vermiculites instead of the expected hydroxy-Al interlayered vermiculites. Al solubility control in surface water of both watersheds remains unclear. The Al-F species in both watersheds and the likely control of Al solubility by alunite in the acid brown soil emphasize the influence of acid deposition on Al chemistry in acid watersheds.