A two-stage model for the formation of clay minerals from tephra-derived volcanic glass

Abstract

Abstract The kinetics of clay formation in buried paleosols developed from late Quaternary rhyolitic tephra layers near Rotorua, New Zealand, can be described in terms of a combination of parabolic and linear kinetics, reflecting the hydration of glass, and the formation of clay minerals, respectively. Such a model is consistent with the formation of clay minerals showing an Arrhenian temperature dependence and suggests, on the basis of calculated activation energies, that the process of formation of Al-rich allophane (imogolite) is diffusion controlled, whereas the rate of formation of Si-rich allophane is controlled by the chemical processes at the site of reaction.