Advances in Earth Science ›› 2002, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (5): 659-663. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2002.05.0659

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ILLITE FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCES

YANG Xian-zhong 1,2   

  1. 1. Faculty of Geosciences,China University of Geosciences,Wuhan  430074,China;2. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources,Nanjing  210016,China
  • Received:2002-01-14 Revised:2002-05-24 Online:2002-12-20 Published:2002-10-01

YANG Xian-zhong. ILLITE FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCES[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2002, 17(5): 659-663.

The fundamental particle is the very fine clay particle composed of single crystal,and is the basic unit of mixed-layer clays formed by one or several kinds of silicates with the sheet structure. Most of illite fundamental particle were found to occur as “building blocks” of mixed-layer crystals(MacEwan crystallites). Between the “blocks”, the adjacent edges were joined with bonded blocks in a, b direction, and the adjacent surface interfaces are joined with blocks of longer bond in c direction. The recent achievements for illite fundamental particle including the formation mechanisms, the shape variations in the formation process, and the diagenetic stages division were also summarized in the paper. There are three stages in the formation process of illite fundamental particle:①the nucleation stage of 2-nm thick illite particle at the incipient process of montmorillonite illitization; ② the simultaneous nucleation and growth stage  and ③ the surface-controlled growth stage. Illite fundamental particles showed platy to lath shapes. Platy particles exhibited various spiral growth patterns, i.e. circular, malformed circular, polygonal single unit-cell layer spirals, polygonal parallel step spiral, interlaced spiral patterns, etc. The crystal thickness distribution of illite fundamental particle submit to the lognormal-type distribution which maximum value is 10.5nm. Because the major contents and methods of fundamental particle are basic similar to  those in the nanoscience and technology, it is suggested that the relationship between illite fundamental particle and the nano-clay mineralogy be regarded together in future.

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