An experimental alteration of montmorillonite to a di plus trioctahedral smectite assemblage at 100 and 200°C

Hydrothermal experiments were performed at 100 and 200 degreesC and at different clay:water ratios in order to investigate the transformation of smectitic layers during the alteration of a montmorillonitic starting material. This study focused on three phenomena: (1) the amount and localization of charge within the layer of the newly-formed dioctahedral smectite; (2) the stacking of low- and high-charge layers in the dioctahedral smectitic material; and (3) the neoformation of trioctahedral smectites. In all of the runs, the formation of beidellite from montmorillonite induced morphological changes in clay particles which suggests a reaction proceeding by a dissolution-crystallization mechanism. Illite layers were detected in K-saturated montmorillonite runs after the transformation of similar to 50% of the starting montmorillonite into beidellite (i.e. after 5 months of reaction with distilled water at 200 degreesC). These illite layers were interstratified with both high-charge and low-charge dioctahedral smectites in a hypothetical three-component mixed-layer mineral.