X Ray Diffraction & the Identification & Analysis of Clay Minerals 2nd Edition

This successful text/reference, now in a new edition, explores the applications and limitations of data produced by the interaction of X-rays with clay minerals. This edition pays particular attention to integrating the mineralogy of soils and features a new chapter on disorder and polytypes. Chapter Four, from the first edition, has been expanded and split into two chapters, "Structure and Properties: General Treatment" and "Structure, Nonmenclature, and Occurrences of Clay Minerals." Essential in agriculture, geology, and in making informed engineering decisions, this text offers the necessary information on the properties of these minerals, combining theoretical discussion with recipe-like directions for laboratory procedures. Ideal for students who have completed introductory geology, chemistry, and mineralogy courses, this text can also be used as a reference for researchers and workers in industry.

Clay minerals are the most abundant minerals on Earth. Widely used in building materials and industry, they are components of bricks, concrete, and ceramics; they impart whiteness to paper; they serve as catalysts in chemical processes, fillers in pharmaceuticals, and stabilizing agents in the disposal of toxic and radioactive wastes; and they indicate the location of petroleum and natural gas reservoirs. Furthermore, a knowledge of the properties of these minerals is essential in agriculture and in making informed engineering decisions. In this text, the authors explore the applications and limitations of data produced by the interaction of X-rays with crystalline minerals. The treatment is informal but rigorous, combining theoretical discussion with recipe-like directions for laboratory procedures.

This successful text/reference, now in a new edition, explores the applications and limitations of data produced by the interaction of X-rays with clay minerals. This edition pays particular attention to integrating the mineralogy of soils and features a new chapter on disorder and polytypes. Chapter Four, from the first edition, has been expanded and split into two chapters, "Structure and Properties: General Treatment" and "Structure, Nonmenclature, and Occurrences of Clay Minerals." Essential in agriculture, geology, and in making informed engineering decisions, this text offers the necessary information on the properties of these minerals, combining theoretical discussion with recipe-like directions for laboratory procedures. Ideal for students who have completed introductory geology, chemistry, and mineralogy courses, this text can also be used as a reference for researchers and workers in industry.

1. Introduction and Historical Background

2. Nature and Production of X-Rays

3. X-Ray Diffraction

4. Structure and Properties: General Treatment

5. * Structure, Nomenclature, and Occurrences of Individual Clay Minerals

6. Sample Preparation Techniques for Clay Minerals

7. Identification of Clay Minerals and Associated Minerals

8. Identification of Mixed-Layered Clay Minerals

9. Quantitative Analysis

10. * Disorder in Smectite, Illite/Smectite, and Illite

Appendix: Modeling One-Dimensional X-Ray Patterns