Geobulletin alpha

CMS workshop lectures: FILLING THE GAPS – FROM MICROSCOPIC PORE STRUCTURES TO TRANSPORT PROPERTIES IN SHALES 

I have been very busy with another publication as part of my doctoral thesis during the last weeks/months. So posting was quiet here and will probably continue to be so for a while. But I recently noticed another open access resource related to clay science that might be of interested especially to the folks interested in porosity, permeability and fluid flow in shales and clays. This is the

April reading: isotopes, bentonite, dolomite, clay minerals and zeolites. 

<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]-->Several interesting articles appeared that I find worth and fun to read. The articles are focused on radiogenic and stable isotope compositions of bentonites as well as on dolomite formation associated with clays and zeolites in volcanic ash and soils. The research is nicely situated in the vicinity of my doctoral studies and own interests. So it is a

Swelling clays and X-ray diffraction 

Introduction Recently, I have been asked by a friend to guide him through a crash course in X-ray diffraction and the identification of swelling clay minerals. Swelling clay minerals are a major issue in formation damage for petroleum/natural gas production but also for natural buildings stones and construction. Since I am ever so often asked how to identify swelling clays by friends

DTTG Workshop 2017 

It passed my attention but now I noticed the first announcement for the next and 7th international DTTG (German-Austrian-Swiss Clay Group) Workshop on qualitative and quantitative analysis of clays and clay minerals to be held in at the University of Greiswald, February 20th to 27th 2017. Georg Grathoff and Lawrence Warr will be the organisers, whom I met at several occasions and they are

Lightening the clay (II) 

  According to the previous post, tetrahedral and octahedral sheets combine to form layers, and we can find two main types of clay structures: structure 1:1 (one tetrahedron sheet and one octahedral sheet) and 2:1 (two tetrahedral sheets and one octahedral sheet). The basic structure of clays is this: Substitutions between cations may occur in the tetrahedral and octahedral

Lightening the clay (I) 

“The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is”. Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370 BC). What is clay? Clays are particles. Very, very small mineral particles. You cannot see them, you cannot handle them… but unity makes strength. Clays are one of the major mineral components of the soil, whose chemical and physical properties

Let's Get Surficial 

People might think that geologists have deeply centered awarenesses, and of course we do, but we're just as deeply concerned with appearances and surfaces. Above the bedrock roots of a landscape, a whole geosphere of young and attractive sediment gets slavish attention. This rich, thin world has three S's—soil and sand and silt—and three C's—clays and clastics and chemical precipitates. All of them are dancing their way through a gigantic cycle involving the crust, mantle, [...]

Mysterious sand 

Slow but steady progress today on the ship.  We are bringing up small volumes of sand that was largely unexpected in such a deep water setting, especially given the earlier results from the southern Chinese continental slope courtesy of ODP Leg 184 -- which showed only clays in deep water. read

Imaggeo on Mondays: How chloritoid tells a story of colliding continents 

Chloritoid is a metamorphic mineral commonly found inside phyllite rocks – which is shale (a type of mudstone containing clays, silts and muds) that has been metamorphosed several times. Confusingly, chloritoid does not actually contain the element chlorine but instead is an iron magnesium manganese alumino-silicate hydroxide. This particular specimen is from Lyon, France: In larger

Take a lap on corn starch! "The plot thickens..." 

The corn-starch experiment. Figure fromvan Hecke's summary referenced below.Have you ever wanted to walk on water? Here's a great YouTube video on non-Newtonian fluids, featuring the "Goop du jour" and how to do it (well, not quite walking on water, but close!)In an article* in the July 12, 2012 issue of Nature, two physicists from the University of Chicago explain the physics behind this phenomenon, and take issue with older theories that it is caused by "shear thickening." This work has [...]