Clay mineral

Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates (e.g. kaolin, Al2Si2O5(OH)4), sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces.

[6] The chemistry of clay, including its capacity to retain nutrient cations such as potassium and ammonium, is important to soil fertility.

The crystallographic structure of clay minerals became better understood in the 1930s with advancements in the x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique indispensable to deciphering their crystal lattice.

[9] Standardization in terminology arose during this period as well,[8] with special attention given to similar words that resulted in confusion, such as sheet and plane.

These methods can be augmented by polarized light microscopy, a traditional technique establishing fundamental occurrences or petrologic relationships.

Spectrography has confirmed their presence on celestial bodies including the dwarf planet Ceres,[16] asteroid 101955 Bennu,[17] and comet Tempel 1,[18] as well as Jupiter's moon Europa.

[27][28] It postulates that complex organic molecules arose gradually on pre-existing, non-organic replication surfaces of silicate crystals in contact with an aqueous solution.

The clay mineral montmorillonite has been shown to catalyze the polymerization of RNA in aqueous solution from nucleotide monomers,[29] and the formation of membranes from lipids.

This system of replicating clays and their metabolic phenotype then evolved into the sulfide rich region of the hot spring acquiring the ability to fix nitrogen.

Due to disc-shaped and charged surfaces, clay interacts with a range of drugs, protein, polymers, DNA, or other macromolecules.

[34] Furthermore, tail grinding occurs during the preparation of the raw material for ceramics; this waste reprocessing is of high importance for the use of clay pulp as a neutralizing agent, as fine particles are required for the reaction.

Experiments on the histosol deacidification with the alkaline clay slurry demonstrated that neutralization with the average pH level of 7.1 is reached at 30% of the pulp added and an experimental site with perennial grasses proved the efficacy of the technique.

Moreover, the reclamation of disturbed lands is an integral part of the social and environmental responsibility of the mining company and this scenario addresses the community necessities at both local and regional levels.

[35] The results of glycol adsorption, cation exchange capacity, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, and chemical tests all give data that may be used for quantitative estimations.