Bloating Characteristics of East Texas Clays

GC6501. Bloating Characteristics of East Texas Clays, by W. L. Fisher and L. E. Garner. 20 p., 12 figs., 1965. Print.

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ABSTRACT
Incidence of bloating among approximately 600 clay samples from East Texas, ranging in age from Gulfian (Late Cretaceous} to Recent, correlates principally with clay mineralogy-and pH--together an indication of bulk composition--and to a lesser extent with texture, loss on ignition, and content of nonclay refractory minerals. Clay-mineral and pH data permit prediction of bloating with an accuracy of about 80 percent. Montmorillonitic and illitic clays are the best bloaters; bloating occurs in more than 80 percent of clays consisting of less than 30 percent kaolinite, more than 10 percent illite, and between 20 and 90 percent montmorillonite. Only 10 percent of the high-alumina clays (more than 50 percent kaolinite) bloat; these generally are plastic and carbonaceous. Value of pH is an index of the amount of certain flux and gas-forming materials in clays; accordingly, bloating incidence generally increases with increase in pH. Incidence of bloating also increases slightly with decrease in grain size, increase in plasticity, increase in loss on ignition, and decrease in content of nonclay refractory minerals.


Keywords: clays, East Texas

CONTENTS

Abstract

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Sampling and testing procedures

Stratigraphic distribution

Bloating factors

Clay mineral composition

Fluxing and gas-forming components

Clay pH

Clay texture

Loss on ignition

Conclusions

References

Figures

1. Index map and distribution of clay samples

2. Stratigraphic distribution of clay samples

3. Stratigraphic variation in clay mineral composition

4. Clay mineral composition of East Texas clays

5. Correlation of bloating incidence and clay mineral composition

6. Correlation of bloating incidence and clay pH

7. Bloating incidence as a function of pH range

8. Clay mineral composition and pH of bloating and nonbloating clays

9. Correlation of bloating incidence and clay texture

10. Correlation of bloating incidence and loss on ignition

11. Fields of bloating incidence based on clay mineral composition

12. Fields of bloating incidence based on clay mineral composition and pH

Table 1. Relationship of calcium (expressed as oxide) content and bloating incidence, East Texas clays


Citation
Fisher, W. L., and Garner, L. E., 1965, Bloating Characteristics of East Texas Clays: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geological Circular 65-1, 20 p.