The clay minerals formed in chilled margins and massive crystallized inner parts of three basalt-hawaiite bodies of Mururoa Atoll (French Polynesia) exhibit contrasting textures. Glass alteration textures are observed around fractures crosscutting the quenched margins: Fe-rich clays grow inward into the glass (retreating surface) while Mg-rich clays grow outward (open space). The textures of clay deposits filling the diktytaxitic voids (mesostasis) in the massive inner parts of the three volcanic bodies are different: unoriented clay matrix with embedded euhedral apatite and pyroxene microcrysts (submarine flow); pallisadic clays coating the void walls and the crystal surfaces of apatite and K-feldspar microcrysts (subaerial flow); and clay muffs covering all the apatite needles, with the central part of the void remaining empty (dike). The unoriented texture could result from the alteration of a glass precursor concomitant with the olivine phenocrysts (clay pseudomorphs). However, such an alteration implies important chemical transfers which are not observed. The pallisadic and muff textures form through heterogeneous nucleation on the solid surfaces and crystal growth from a saline solution. No glass precursor existed. As the center of the diktytaxitic voids in the dike is empty, the residual liquid was probably boiling. The amounts of light rare earth elements (LREE), Sr, and the most incompatible elements are greater in clays from diktytaxitic voids relative to the amounts formed in the altered glass of the chilled margins. Thus, diktytaxitic clays formed from a residual liquid which gave either an evolved glass or a saline solution after cooling (fractionation process). The δ18O variation vs. loss on ignition (LOI) indicates that sea water was involved either in rock alteration or magma contamination. This is confirmed by the 87Rb/86Sr ratio of bulk rocks and clay fractions from the quenched and massive inner parts of the three volcanic bodies which do not fit with the 11.5 Ma isochron indicating that the Rb-Sr system was not closed at any stage during the magmatic history.

The varied mineralogical composition of earthy materials and the quantity of elements extracted by simulated stomach acid substantiate the diversity of materials consumed by humans practicing geophagy. Direct consumption of ‘edible earths’ for medicinal and spiritual purposes occurs worldwide and is deeply rooted in ‘folk medicine’ and religion. The legends associated with the healing powers of the clay from Chimayo, New Mexico, provide an excellent example of the roots of geophagy. The clay mineral assemblages revealed by X-ray diffraction analysis of 22 samples from New Mexico, North America, and other parts of the world are highly variable. One might be monominerallic kaolinite or smectite, and another, a complex mixture of illite, kaolinite, smectite, and chlorite or vermiculite. The quantities of elements (Al, Si, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Ti, P, S, Ba, Sr, Pb, Zn, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, V, Zr, Se, Mo, Be, Sb, and As) extracted by 0.12 M HCl varied from ∼1.0 mg/g to the limit of detectability, 0.0001 mg/g. Potential long-term human health effects were evaluated with the Reference Dose Ratio (RDR). It divides the quantity of the element extracted from 50 g of the total sample by the recommended reference dose (RfD) reported in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA, USA) IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) database. Median RDR values for Na, Cr, Sb, and As exceeded 1.0 indicating an abnormally high potential intake. Materials consumed by humans are so varied that caution should be used in comparing the results of one clay study with those of another without mineralogical and chemical data.