Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T09:52:46.033Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chemical Weathering of Layer Silicate Clays in Loess-Derived Tama Silt Loam of Southwestern Wisconsin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

R. C. Glenn ,
M. L. Jackson ,
F. D. Hole  and
G. B. Lee
R. C. Glenn
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
M. L. Jackson
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
F. D. Hole
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
G. B. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chemical weathering of layer silicate clay minerals in the major horizons of the Tama silt loam Prairie soil profile was followed down to 10 ft, where the calcareous parent loess was encountered, and on down to a depth of 13 ft. The predominant constituents of the clay fraction (- 2 μ) at all depths in the soil profile were montmorillonite (42 percent) and illite (20 percent), although vermiculite (12 percent), kaolinite (5 percent) and amorphous material (15 percent) were also in fair abundance. Deposition of secondary inter-layer alumina was appreciable in the uppermost soil horizons but became less in amount in the deeper soil horizons. Quartz was not found in the clay fractions of less than 0.2 μ in diameter at any depth in the soil profile, although both quartz and feldspars occurred in the coarse clay.

Vermiculite decreased from about 18 percent in the coarse clay and 5 percent in the fine clay of the deeper calcareous horizons to small amounts toward the soil surface, disappearing altogether in the fine clay ( - 0.08 μ). Little variation was found in the montmorillonite percentage of the clay in the subsoil and lower horizons (64 to 75 percent of the fine clay), but a decrease in the 18Å diffraction intensity of montmorillonite concurrent with an increase in amorphous silica and alumina (15 to 27 percent of the fine clay) was observed in the upper, acid, soil horizons, suggesting that montmorillonite is not a stable weathering product in the latter. Elemental analyses of the fine clays showed about 1.1 out of 4 octahedral positions to be Fe, 2.5 to be Al, and 0.4 to be Mg. A slight decrease in Fe and increase in Al in the montmorillonite octahedral structure occurred progressively in approaching the more intensely weathered zones near the soil surface.

The results suggest that dioctahedral montmorillonite has formed to considerable extent in both the calcareous and noncalcareous horizons by chemical weathering of tri-octahedral ferromagnesian mica, through a vermiculite intermediate stage. The decrease in amount of the silt fractions of density greater than 2.66 g/cm3 (found to be composed mainly of biotite, chlorite, and amphiboles) in going from the calcareous horizons toward the soil surface approximately equalled the increase in montmorillonite percentage of the soil, suggesting that montmorillonite of the loess originated by chemical weathering of the ferromagnesian minerals of the silt. The genesis of the loessial montmorillonite begins long before the free CaCO3 has been leached out (6 percent montmorillonite in the loess at 13 ft) and continues to a maximum (14 percent) in the B horizon. Some eluviation of montmorillonite from the A horizon into the B horizon was evident.

Type
Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals (National Conference on Clays and Clay Minerals) , Volume 8 , February 1959 , pp. 63 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © The Clay Minerals Society 1959

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L. T., Hendricks, S. B. and Nelson, R. A. (1939) Minerals present in soil colloids: II. Estimation in some representative soils: Soil Sci., v. 48, pp. 273–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barshad, Isaac (1948) Vermieulite and its relation to biotite as revealed by base exchange reactions, x-ray analyses, differential thermal curves, and water content: Amer. Min., v. 33, pp. 655–678.Google Scholar
Beavers, A. H. (1957) Source and deposition of clay minerals in. Peorian loess: Science, v. 125, p. 1285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beavers, A. H., Johns, W. D., Grim, R. E. and Odell, R. T. (1955) Clay minerals in some Illinois soils developed from loess and till under grass vegetation: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Natl. Acad. Sci.—Natl. Res. Council, pub. 395, pp. 356–372.Google Scholar
Brindley, G. W. and Robinson, K. (1951) The chlorite minerals: in x-Ray Identification and Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals, Mineralogical Society, London, pp. 173198.Google Scholar
Brown, B. E. and Jackson, M. L. (1958) Clay mineral distribution in the Hiawatha sandy soils of northern Wisconsin: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Natl. Acad. Sci.—Natl. Res. Council, pub. 566, pp. 213–226.Google Scholar
Buehrer, T. F., Robinson, D. O. and Deming, J. M. (1949) The mineral composition of the colloidal fraction of some southwestern soils in relation to field behavior: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., 1948, v. 13, pp. 157–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, J. B. and Jackson, M. L. (1959) Dissolution of interlayers from intergradient soil clays after preheating at 400°C: Science, v. 129, pp. 1616–1617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fieldes, M. and Swindale, L. D. (1954) Chemical weathering of silicates in soil formation: New Zealand J. Sci. Tech., v. 36, pp. 140–154.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Isao and Jackson, M. L. (1960) Rapid dissolution of allophane and kaolinite- halloysite after dehydration: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Pergamon Press, New York, pp. 102–113.Google Scholar
Hole, F. D. (1956) Soil survey of Grant County Wisconsin: Bull. 80, Wis. Geol. and Nat Hist. Survey, University of Wisconsin, Madison 6, Wis., 54 pp.Google Scholar
Jackson, M. L. (1956) Soil Chemical Analysis—Advanced Course: Published by the author Dept. of Soils, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison 6, Wis., 991 pp.Google Scholar
Jackson, M. L. (1958) Soil Chemical Analysis: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 498 pp.Google Scholar
Jackson, M. L. (1959) Frequency distribution of clay minerals in major great soil groups as related to the factors of soil formation: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Pergamon Press, New York, pp. 133–143.Google Scholar
Klages, M. G. and White, J. L. (1957) A chlorite-like mineral in Indiana soils: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 21, pp. 16–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehra, O. P. and Jackson, M. L. (1959a) Constancy of the sum of potassium unit cell surface and interlayer sorption surfaces in vermiculite-illite clays: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 23, pp. 101–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehra, O. P. and Jackson, M. L. (1959b) Specific surface determination by duo-interlayer and mono-interlayer glycerol sorption for vermieulite and montmorillonite analysis: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 23, pp. 351–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, C. I. (1958) Muscovite weathering in a soil developed in the Virginia Piedmont: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Natl. Acad. Sci.—Natl. Res. Council, pub. 556, pp. 203212.Google Scholar
Rich, C. I. and Obenshain, S. S. (1955) Chemical and clay mineral properties of a Red- Yellow Podzolic soil derived from museovite schist: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 19, pp. 334–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawhney, B. L. and Jackson, M. L. (1958) Soil montmorillonite formulas: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 22, pp. 115–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, G. D. and Uehara, G. (1956) The weathering of olivine basalt in Hawaii and its pedogenic significance: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 20, pp. 337–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. D., Allaway, W. H. and Riecken, F. F. (1930) Prairie soils of the upper Mississippi valley: Advances in Agronomy, Academic Press, Inc., New York, v. 2, pp. 157–205.Google Scholar
Tamura, Tsuneo (1958) Identification of clay minerals from acid soils: J. Soil Sci., v. 9, pp. 141–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, G. F. (1949) The decomposition of biotite in the soil: Min. Mag., v. 28, pp. 693–703.Google Scholar
Whittig, L. D. and Jackson, M. L. (1955) Interstratified layer silicates in some soils of northern Wisconsin: in Clays and Clay Minerals, Natl. Acad. Sci.·—Natl. Res. Council, pub. 395, pp. 322–326.Google Scholar