Regolith Minerals

Types, Nature &

Significance
Mehrooz F Aspandiar
CRC LEME
WASM, Department of Applied Geology,
Curtin University of Technology

Types of regolith minerals

Phyllosilicates or Clay Minerals
Smectites, Kaolinite, Illite, Vermiculite & interstratified
varieties of these
Framework Silicates opal A & opal-CT, quartz
Oxides & hydroxides Fe, Mn, Al & Ti

Geothite, hematite, maghemite, gibbsite, lithophorite

Sulphates - gypsum, jarosite, alunite
Carbonates calcite, dolomite, magnesite
Chlorides - halite
Phosphates crandalite, florencite

Nature of regolith minerals

Most are very fine-grained (high surface areas),
generally having grain sizes < 100 nm, some even < 10
nm
They occur
Intimately mixed with each other & organics
Within microbes (magnetotactic bacteria)
Large amount of defects in their crystal structure
Fine size and crystal-chemical properties impart a
dynamic nature to them
Some change structural properties in real time!

?
Hem
2 mic

kaolinite

5nm

How many minerals in a

100 nm or 0.01 micron?
What grain size?

Why study and understand regolith

minerals?
They regulate trace and major element
mobility in the regolith and therefore
impact on geochemistry of regolith,

Mineral
Hosts

groundwaters and surface waters

They provide clues to the physiochemical conditions of the regolith such
as pH, Eh, temperature, drainage,
presence of anions

Current and
past
environments
and
processes

How regolith minerals regulate

element mobility
Regolith minerals regulate element mobility in the
environment by
Incorporating elements in precipitating minerals
Fe in goethite & hematite
Adsorbing/Desorbing elements
Pb or Cu on goethite
If minerals dissolve or pH conditions change,
elements become mobile

Every Atom needs a home!

Where do elements reside in the regolith?

Essential element e.g. Fe in goethite

Accidental element e.g. Cr in geothite
Adsorbed element e.g. Pb on goethite
Surface precipitate e.g. PbCO3 on goethite
Polymeric entities/clusters e.g. AlO6 dimers
Dissolved entities e.g Ca(H2O)6
Gaseous e.g. CO2

The dominant are mineral hosts (solid phase)

What can minerals tell us about

regolith environments?
pH and Eh
Main anions (SO4, Cl-, SiO4)
Wet (poorly drained) or dry (well
drained)
Landscape position (crest or valley
bottom)
Temperature

Regolith Environments

pH vs Anions
The presence of specific minerals provides
information on pH and type of dominant anion
present in the system

Regolith Environments

pH vs Eh (redox condition)
Iron oxides, iron-sulphates, iron sulphides and
carbonate minerals are indicators of pH and
redox (oxidizing or reducing) conditions
Acid sulphate soils
Acid Mine Drainage
Salt Lakes
Wetlands

Modified from Taylor & Eggleton (2001)

Mineralogy and pH
Perth wetlands acidification

Inland acid sulfate soils

Reddish-orange ferrihydrite +
schwertmannite

Regolith Environments

Profile Drainage
Impeded or slow groundwater flow results in
smectite-carbonate-goethite association
Free flow (well-drained) results in most stable
assemblage kaolinite-goethite/hematite association
However, need to consider climate and drainage
together
For example, smectites may indicate aridity and/or
impeded drainage

Regolith Environments

Wet vs Dry

Use iron oxides as indicators

Goethite (yellow-brown) high water activity
Hematite (red to dark red) low water activity
This association provides wet vs dry
environmental information on

Micro fine mottles

Profile brown mottles below red soil
Landscape red crests versus yellow valleys
Regional scale - red areas versus yellow

Regolith Environments

Drainage & Landsacpe

Local regolith environment is dictated by landscape
position because landscape position controls
drainage
Generally, hill crests are drier because they are well
drained
Valleys are wetter because poorly drained

Regolith Environments

Drainage, landsacpe & substrate

Drainage in parts of regolith profiles can be controlled
by parent material and substrate in addition to
landscape position
If substrate impermeable, poor drainage results in
goethite and/or smectite in particular units.
If substrate or media allow free drainage, hematite
dominates

Regolith Environments

Landscape and pH
Silica-silicrete (opal, micro-quartz),
carbonates (calcite, dolomite) and gypsum
are indicators of pH and landscape in arid
and semi-arid climates

After Taylor & Eggleton 2001

Regolith Environments

Temperature
Few reliable indicators of temperature
However, on continental scale goethite to
hematite ratio shows an increase from
equatorial regions to polar regions, ie the
redder hematite predominates over browner
goethite with cooler temperatures, drainage
remaining same!
Maghemite can be an indicator of forest fires

Mineralogical Analysis Techniques

X-ray diffraction tried and tested, best for > 4%
mineral identification and other structural analysis
slow new variants such as Synchrotron are powerful
methods but more time consuming
SEM only surface morphology but with EDAX
powerful
Spectroscopy
Transmission mode (IR)
Reflectance mode rapid and robust but not always unique
to minerals
NMR probes local crystal-chemical (in depth)

TEM & AEM if all else fails with diffraction,

chemical analysis and imaging the ultimate

References
Bingham,J., Fitzpatrick, R.W., Schulze, D.G
(2002) Iron oxides. In Soil Mineralogy with
Environmental Applications, 323-366.
Dixon, J & Schulze (2002) (eds) Soil
Mineralogy and Environmental Applications
Taylor & Eggleton (2001) Regolith Geology
and Geomorphology (chapter 3)