• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2004

A zeolitic bentonite, which exhibits whitish appearance and contains considerable amounts (nearly 〉 5%) of zeolites, frequently occurs as thin beds less than 1 m in Yeongil area. The bentonites are mostly found in closely association with zeolite beds in the Nuldaeri Tuff and Coal-bearing formations of the Janggi Croup. A discordant occurrence of the bentonite against the bedding plane is also locally found. Montmorillonite, the major mineral constituent of the bentonite, is mostly associated with clinoptilolite as a zeolite. However, instead of clinoptilolite, mordenite is sometimes included in the case of more silicic bentonite, and heulandite in the less silicic one. It is characteristic that the mordenite is accompanied by lots of opal-CT in the silicic bentonite. SEM observations characteristically indicate that these authigenic phases, especially the montmorillonite and zeolite, nearly coexist as mixtures not forming a fine-scale zoning. The zeolitic bentonite seems to be formed in the comparatively silicic pore fluid at the alkaline condition accompanying pH fluctuation Compared to the zeolite-free normal bentonite, the zeolitic types exhibit somewhat higher REE abundance. These chemical characteristics, together with modes of occurrences and authigenic mineral associations, may suggest that the zeolitic bentonite is not merely diagenetic products and a possible hydrothermal alteration could not be excluded in the bentonite genesis.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.329-344
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• 2002

Mineralogical and chemical characterization of some domestic bentonites, such as quantitative XRD analysis, chemical leaching experiments, pH and CEC determinations, were done without any separation procedures to understand their relationships among mineral composition, characteristics, and cation exchange properties. XRD quantification results based on Rietveld method reveal that the bentonites contain totally more than 25 wt% of impurities, such as zeolites, opal-CT, and feldspars, in addition to montmorillonite ranging 30～75 wt%. Cation exchange properties of the zeolitic bentonites are deeply affected by the content of zeolites identified as clinoptilolite-heulandite series. Clinoptilolite is common in the silicic bentonites with lighter color. and occurs closely in association with opal-CT. Ca is mostly the dominant exchangeable cation, but some zeolitic bentonites have K as a major exchangeable cation, The values of cation exchange capacity (CEC) determined by Methylene Blue method are comparatively low and have roughly a linear relationship with the montmorillonite content of the bentonite, though the correlated data tend to be rather dispersed. Compared to this, the CEC determined by Ammonium Acetate method, i.e.‘Total CEC’, has much higher values (50～115 meq/100 g). The differences between those CEC values are much greater in zeolitic bentonites, which obviously indicates the CEC increase affected by zeolite. Other impurities such as opal-CT and feldspars seem to affect insignificantly on the CEC of bentonites. When dispersed in distilled water, the pH of bentonites roughly tends to increase up to 9.3 with increasing the alkali abundance, especially Na, in exchangeable cation composition. However, some bentonites exhibit lower pH (5～6) so as to regard as ‘acid clay’. This may be due to the presence of $H^{＋}$ in part as an exchangeable cation in the layer site of montmorillonite. All the works of this study ultimately suggest that an assesment of domestic bentonites in grade and quality should be accomplished through the quantitative XRD analysis and the ‘Total CEC’measurement.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2003

Various applied-mineralogical characterization including measurements of surface area, size distribution, swelling index, and viscosity were done for some domestic bentonites in order to decipher the rheological properties and their controlling factors. The bentonites, which are Ca-type and relatively low-grade (rnontmorillonite contents: 30 ∼ 75 wt%), occur mostly as subhedral lamellas with the size range of 2 ∼ 4 $\mu\textrm{m}$. The size distribution of mineral fractions in bentonite suspension is dominant in the range of 10 ∼ 100 $\mu\textrm{m}$, and though rather complicated, exhibits roughly bimodal patterns. The feature is more conspicuous in the case of zeolitic bentonite. The bentonites have surface areas ranging 269 ∼ 735 $\m^2$/g, which are measured by EGME adsorption method. The EGME surface areas are nearly proportional to the rnontmorillonite contents, moisture contents, or total CEC. In the surface area measurements, zeolitic bentonites have slightly higher values than those zeolite- free types. The measured swelling index and viscosity of domestic bentonites are comparatively low in values. The swelling values of bentonites were measured to be 250∼500% at maximum by progressively mixing amounts of 2 ∼ 5 wt% Na$_2$CO$_3$, which varies depending on the contents of rnontmorillonite and other impurities, especially zeolite. Much amount of sodium carbonate is required for optimum swelling property of zeolitic bentonited which has usually strong Na- exchanged capacity. The bentonites, which are comparatively feldspar-rich and low in size and crystallinity, tend to be higher in viscosity values. Tn addition, the viscosity is largely higher in case of the bentonites with higher pH in suspension. However, the rheological properties of bentonites such as swelling index and viscosity do not show any obvious relationships with rnontmorillonite contents and mean particle size in suspension. In contrast, roughly speaking, the swelling index of bentonites is reversely proportional to the values of surface area which can be regarded as a collective physico-chemical parameter encompassing all the effects caused by mineral composition, surface charge, particle size, morphological farm, and etc. in bentonites. Thus, the rheological properties in bentonite suspension appear to be rather complicated characteristics which mainly depend on the flocculation of clay particles and the mode of particle association, i.e. quasicrystals, controlled by surface charge, morphology, size, and texture of rnon-tmorillonite, and which partly affected by the finer impurities such as zeolite.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 1990

본 연구에서는 포항-연일지역 및 감포-하서지 역의 점토광물과 주변모암의 열괭창 특성, 지구화 학적 및 물리적 특성. 그리고 성인에 대하여 고찰하였다. Ca계 몬모릴로나이트영역에 속함을 알 수 있다. 그러나 제올라이트는 뚜렷한 특징을 보이지 않는다. 점토질암석과 그 이외의 벤토나이트 및 제올라이트사이의 Sr. Cu, V. Li과 La의 함량에는 차이가 발견된다.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.245-265
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• 2004

This study was to compare the geological occurrences and geneses of the Myogi, Tsukinuno, Dobuyama and Kawasaki bentonite deposits distributed in the Tertiary sedimentary basins of NE Japan, and to compare the mineralogical and physicochemical properties of their bentonites. The Japanese bentonite deposits are mainly distributed in the Green-tuff region which was formed in Neogene. The shape of ore body of the Myogi, Tsukinuno and Kawasaki deposits formed by the diagenesis are layered and stratiform. In contrast to this, the Dobuyama deposit formed by hydrothermal alteration shows the cone shape. The mineralization age of four deposits are 1.8 ～ 21 Ha from Early Miocene to Pliocene. The Dobuyama bentonite with the highest montmorillonite content shows the highest surface area, CEC, MB adsorption, and strengths. The Tsukinuno bentonite with a little high montmorillonite content is characterized by strong alkalinity, high viscosity and swelling. The Kawasaki bentonite, the Na-Ca mixed type, shows higher viscosity and swelling than the Ca-type Dobuyama bentonite. The Myogi bentonite with the lowest montmorillonite content shows the properties of low viscosity, In adsorption, strengths and a little high CEC and surface area. The high CEC and surface area of this deposit is due to the sufficient occurrence of zeolite. A strong dispersion in the Na-type bentonite and a strong flocculation in the Ca-type bentonite took place, and both the types show a slow flocculation with time. The physicochemical properties of the bentonite are mainly controlled by the montmorillonite content, interlayer cations, and impurity minerals such as zeolite. But bentonites inconsistent to this factors are sometimes occurred. This is maybe due to the crystal chemistry such as layer charge of montmorillonite and crystal morphology of montmorillonite such as aspect ratio.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.377-393
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• 2010

Pumiceous tuffs occurring in the Beomgockri Group are examined applied-mineralogical characteristics and their controling factors to evaluate their potentials as the adsorption-functional mineral resources. The pumiceous tuffs are diagenetically altered to low-grade zeolitcs and bentonites in the Janggi area. Compositional specialty due to the presence of pumice fragments induces the altered tuffs to exhibit the characteristic adsorption property combined with cation exchange capacity, specific surface area, and acidic pH. Unusual lower pH in the adsorption-functional mineral substances is turned out to be originated from the presence of H-smectite having $H^+$ in the interlayer site of the sheet structure. On account of disordered crystallinity resulting from the exchanged $H^+$ in the interlayer site, the smectite commonly forms crenulated edges in the planar crystal form and exhibits characteristic X-ray diffraction patterns showing comparatively lower intensities of basal spacings including (001) peak than conventional Ca-smectite. Based on the interpretation of paragenetic relations and precursor of the H-smectite, a genetic model of the peculiar clay mineral was proposed. The smectite formation may be facilitated resulting from the precipitation of opal-CT at decreasing pH condition caused by the release of H+ during diagenetic alteration of pumice fragments. Because of the acidic smectite, the low-grade mineral resources from the Beomgockri Group may be applicable to the adsorption industry as the raw materials of acid clays and bed-soil.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2008

The geochemical partitioning of arsenic in contaminated soils from a of wet land and tailing of the abandoned mine is examined. Chemical analysis and sequential extraction method by ultrasound-sonication extraction are applied to investigate the mobility and chemical existence conditions of arsenic as well as heavy metals. The results of this study showed that heavy metals concentration of tailings showed as a following order: Fe > As > Cu > Pb > Cr. The highest metal concentration was recognized in samples less than $63\;{\mu}m$ fraction in their particle sizes. Exchangeable and carbonate fractions in soil samples showed following Cu > As > Pb > Fe > Cr for tailings, and Fe > Pb > Cu > As > Cr for reservoir soils, respectively. Arsenic was bound as exchangeable fraction in tailings and its concentration appeared higher than those of the other metals. Thus, As can be easily dispersed into soil and water environments. The obtained results can be used to design soil remediation plan in the study area and require further detailed study to investigate severe environmental pollution of surface water as well as rivers with respect to heavy metals in terms of speciation analysis of toxic elements such as As and Cr.