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Accurate crystal chemistry of ferric smectites from the lateritic nickel ore of Murrin Murrin (Western Australia). I. XRD and multi-scale chemical approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

A. Gaudin ,
O. Grauby ,
Y. Noack ,
A. Decarreau  and
S. Petit
A. Gaudin*
Affiliation:
CNRS-UMR 6112, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université de Nantes, BP 92208, 44322 Nantes Cedex 03 CEREGE, CNRS-UMR6635, Université Aix-Marseille III, Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 04, France
O. Grauby
Affiliation:
CRMC2, CNRS-UPR 7251, Campus de Luminy, Case 913, F-13288 Marseille Cedex 09
Y. Noack
Affiliation:
CEREGE, CNRS-UMR6635, Université Aix-Marseille III, Europôle Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 04, France
A. Decarreau
Affiliation:
CNRS-UMR 6532, Laboratoire HydrASA, Faculté des Sciences, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
S. Petit
Affiliation:
CNRS-UMR 6532, Laboratoire HydrASA, Faculté des Sciences, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
*
*E-mail: anne.gaudin@chimie.univ-nantes.fr
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Abstract

Lateritic weathering profiles developed on serpentinized peridotites of Murrin Murrin (Western Australia) exhibit thick smectite zones (10–15 m). The smectites from plasma and fissures were characterized by XRD, chemical analyses (ICP-AES, SEM-EDX and TEM-EDX) and Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy. These Fe-rich smectites, previously described as nontronites, are in fact more complex. Their layer charges originate from both the tetrahedral and octahedral sheets. Plasma and notably fissure smectites exhibit, from the bulk sample scale to the particle scale, large and continuous Al for (Fe+Cr) substitutions, covering a chemical gap previously described for dioctahedral smectites ranging between nontronite and beidellite end-members. Lastly, they exhibit an octahedral occupancy slightly above 2, due to a low (Mg+Ni) trioctahedral contribution. Thus, the smectites occurring in weathering profiles of ultrabasic rocks can have actual chemistries intermediate between four dioctahedral end-members (beidellite, nontronite, montmorillonite and previously rarely described ferric-montmorillonite) and a trioctahedral one ((Mg+Ni)-saponite).

Keywords

weatheringultrabasic rocksmectitecrystal chemistrynickelXRDMössbauerICPSEMTEM-EDX
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 301 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2004

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