clay minerals
Sign in to saveAlso known as clay mineral group, argillaceous minerals
group of minerals
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- mineral
- Image
- OxfordClay Weymouth.JPG
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Clay minerals
- topic's main category
- Category:Clay minerals group
- described by source
- Mala hirnycha encyclopædia
- topic has template
- Template:Clay minerals
via Wikidata · CC0
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Oxford Clay (Jurassic) exposed near Weymouth, England 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.
Clay minerals form in the presence of water and have been important to life, and many theories of abiogenesis involve them. They are important constituents of soils, and have been useful to humans since ancient times in agriculture and manufacturing.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “clay minerals” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.