A study of some glauconites from cretaceous and tertiary formations in South-East England

Abstract

Abstract A study of soil formation on glauconitic parent materials in South-East England has included a mineralogical investigation of glauconite grains, heretofore identified solely by morphology. The grains have been subjected to X-ray diffraction, differential thermal and partial chemical analyses, and have been found to consist essentially of randomly interstratified micaceous and montmorillonitic clay mineral; thus all are glauconite sensu lato . Only small amounts of non-clay mineral impurities have been detected. The proportion of expandable layer material has been found to be related to the % K 2 O and cation exchange capacity of the specimens.