Fired clay minerals rehydroxylate after firing, a phenomenon that causes the long-term mass gain and expansion seen in archaeological ceramics. During rehydroxylation, fired clay minerals react with H2O to form structural hydroxyl (OH). Recent models propose that rehydroxylation is described by a quartic root (t1/4) time dependence, which has led to a dating method based on the process (RHX, re...

The Clay Minerals Society (CMS) Nomenclature Committee was asked by CMS Council to produce a glossary of clay science in 2003. The Committee developed several constraints on the development of the glossary: (1) it was decided to produce a glossary of clay terms, based on clay science. Terms may have other meanings in other disciplines, but the Committee did not want to include how other discipl...

A method of clay mineral sample preparation for electron microprobe analysis has been developed in which a film of clay plus 10-12 wt. % colloidal graphite is deposited on a porous ceramic disc using a specially designed suction device. Correction procedures are used to obtain quantitative elemental analyses representing the average chemical composition of the prepared sample. A statistical tec...

Introduction: In the search for life on Mars nearsurface soil environments may be important habitats for life accessible to future missions. Serpentinite rocks have been documented on Mars [1], as well as other clay minerals including smectite and kaolinites [2, 3]. Previous studies of soils formed on serpentinites on Earth have documented the formation of extensive clays, including smectite [4...

development of argillic horizon in loess derived soils under xeric and udic soil moisture regimes was studied in golestan province. soils were classified as hapludalfs and haploxeralfs. high leaching, stability of the surface, forest vegetation,structure and well drainage conditions provide appropriate conditions for clay migration through the profile and formation of argillic horizons. in the ...