A lithium-bearing aluminian regular mixed layer montmorillonite-chlorite from Huy, Belgium

Abstract

A bluish-green clay found in veins cutting across brecciated slates of the Llanvirnian stage at Huy, Belgium, is shown by X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis to be a lithium-bearing, aluminium-rich, regular mixed layer montmorillonite-chlorite with associated pyrophyllite, nacrite and quartz and smaller amounts of calcite and ankerite. The cation exchange capacity of the purified air-dry magnesium saturated clay is 49 mEq/100 g and its structural formula isThe problem of the nomenclature of regular mixed layer montmorillonite-chlorites is discussed.