Search results for " clay"
showing 10 items of 106 documents
Soil development on sediments and evaporites of the Messinian crisis
2020
Abstract Vast areas in the Mediterranean are characterised by evaporite deposits of the Messinian crises (c. 6–5.3 Ma BP). During this period, large deposits were built up in shallow lagoon-like systems and are now found in southern Italy, Albania, Cyprus and Turkey. So far, soil formation on evaporites has been studied predominantly in subarid to arid environments. Although the formation of soils has received new significance, little is known about the evolutional trajectories on evaporites of the Mediterranean. We therefore studied soil formation in the Caltanissetta basin (Sicily) where evaporites are most widespread. The lithologies included the sequence: marine clay deposits, laminated…
Ceramic raw materials: how to recognize them and locate the supply basins—mineralogy, petrography
2020
This tutorial paper is focused on the mineralogical-petrographic characterization of clayey raw materials with the purpose of sourcing supply basins and answering questions about the provenance of the corresponding archaeological ceramic artefacts. The first part gives general indications of how to profitably study archaeological ceramic thin sections through the polarizing microscope. Brief notes are provided on the theoretical basis of optical microscopy. A scheme is then provided for the petrographic description of ceramic samples, concerning the textural and compositional characteristics of aplastic inclusions and groundmass. Suggestions are also given for identifying any minero-petrogr…
The Use of Medicinal Clay from Silesia “Terra sigillata Silesiaca”, Central Europe - A New Chance for Natural Medicine?
2019
Silesia is a region in Central Europe with beneficial conditions for the presence of clay, including those with potential therapeutic efficacies, due to its very diverse and mosaic geological landscape. The first use of clay deposits in medicine in Silesia, “terra sigillata Silesiaca”, has been dated to 1550 AD, and the oldest written information related to this use has been dated to 1586 AD. Medicinal clay is formed by the accumulation of a mixture of minerals such as smectite, bentonite, montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, and metahaloisite, with impurities of other minerals and fractions, resulting from the chemical weathering of rocks and the sedimentation of detritus. The quantitative …
Paleoclimate and extensional tectonics of short-lived lacustrine environments. Lower Cretaceous of the Panormide Southern Tethyan carbonate platform …
2017
Abstract Subaerial erosion and continental sedimentation interbedded with shallow-water carbonates are unequivocal stratigraphic records to evaluate paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate evolution of emerged landmass. Stratigraphic analysis of the Cretaceous Monte Gallo section of the Mesozoic Panormide carbonate platform, in the northern side of the Palermo Mountains (NW Sicily) records a peculiar continental-derived clays that interrupted the shallow-water carbonate sedimentation. These clays rest, with lenticular geometries, above the tectonically-enhanced subaerial erosional unconformity of the Barremian-Lower Aptian Requienid limestones and are covered by the Upper Cretaceous Rudistid li…
Late Jurassic palaeoclimatic change from clay mineralogy and gamma-ray spectrometry of the Kimmeridge Clay, Dorset, UK
2009
Abstract: The Late Jurassic was a time of increasing aridity in NW Europe. Here, a new clay mineral dataset is presented from a 600 m thick composite core through the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, southern England. Clay mineral assemblages comprise mainly illite and kaolinite, with minor randomly interstratified illite–smectite mixed-layer clays. SEM observations indicate that clay minerals are mainly detrital, except in silty strata of late Tithonian age, which contain abundant pore-filling kaolinite aggregates. Th/K ratios determined from gamma-ray spectrometry mirror palaeoclimatically significant variations in kaolinite/illite ratios, with notable exception where diagenetic kaolinite occur…
Isotopic seawater temperatures in the Albian Gault Clay of the Boulonnais (Paris Basin): Palaeoenvironmental implications
2016
13 pages; International audience; Oxygen isotopes were measured on several types of fossil hardparts from the Gault Clay Formation including benthic and planktonic foraminifera, belemnite guards, and fish small-teeth. Belemnites δ18O values indicate low temperatures (13.5–19.3 °C) with an increase from the Middle to Late Albian. Foraminifera provide variable δ18O values, some too low to be relevant in terms of temperature (until 42 °C). These low values probably result from a diagenetic alteration of the foraminiferal tests even though SEM observations revealed well-preserved microstructures. However, higher foraminiferal δ18O values recorded in some levels indicate temperatures in the rang…
The shear strength of Opalinus Clay shale in the remoulded state
2020
Abstract The Opalinus Clay shale formation is considered as a potential host geomaterial for the Swiss deep geological repository for radioactive waste. It presents different facies and it is characterised by a multi-scale heterogeneous composition, by a typical fissile structure with well-defined bedding planes and by anisotropic hydro-mechanical behaviour. This peculiar complexity makes it difficult to assign a unique set of geomechanical parameters to the material. This paper presents an experimental study aimed at characterising the lowest values of the shear strength parameters. In this sense, the shear behaviour was investigated on remoulded samples where the fabric and the diagenetic…
Water retention and swelling behaviour of granular bentonites for application in Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL) systems
2016
Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL) systems are used as efficient hydraulic barriers in landfills for the disposal of hazardous municipal wastes. Along with geotextiles, bentonite materials are chosen as one of the primary components of GCLs due to their high retention, adsorption, and swelling capacities. GCLs are manufactured using bentonites at a high total suction and hydrated through the uptake of liquid from the subsoil and the confined material as soon as they are installed. Bentonites may exhibit considerable volume change upon wetting. Depending on the confinement stress, the void ratio may significantly increase with a decrease in suction, particularly at higher degrees of saturation. T…
Experimental study of a naturally weathered stiff clay
2016
Studying the shear strength of a naturally weathered clay is important to understand rain-induced slope failures in weathered soils. However, experimental studies on naturally weathered soils are limited. The paper focuses on the laboratory experimental investigation carried out to analyse the shear strength of a naturally weathered stiff clay that can be found in unsaturated conditions in situ. This has an important practical relevance in the evaluation of the stability conditions of natural slopes at clay outcrops. Different experimental techniques of suction measurement were used to obtain the soil-water retention curve of the clay over a wide range of suctions. Scanning electronic micr…
On the reactivation of a large landslide induced by rainfall in highly fissured clays
2018
Abstract The paper discusses the field investigations, geotechnical characterization and time evolution of horizontal displacements in a wide landslide. The latter, triggered by an earthquake occurring in September 2002, is located in Sicily and involves a thick body of stiff and highly fissured clays belonging to a Varicoloured Clay formation. In order to characterise the reactivation of landslide mechanisms induced by rainfall, a three-year monitoring programme (2008–2011) was implemented to measure rain, pore water pressures, and deep and superficial displacements. The monitoring data made it possible to recognize three distinct landslides, which evolve at variable rates in different dir…