A Current View of Clay Microstructure and New Research Directions

Abstract

The accumulated literature has established that although numerous studies and advances have been made, a paucity of data and information exists in various important areas of research on clay microstructure. Only a few studies dealing with the fabric of natural sedimentary material have been reported, in contrast to numerous studies of laboratory prepared material. The only comprehensive studies of submarine sediment clay fabrics have been conducted by Bowles (1968a, 1968b) and others (Bowles et al. 1969), Bennett and Bryant (1973, 1976), and more recently, by Bennett (1976), Bennett et al. (1977, 1979, 1981), Bohlke and Bennett (1980), Guorui (1983), Faas and Crocket (1983). Very scant information exists on the initial stages of fabric formation in natural systems and the effects of organic and inorganic compounds on the development of clay fabric. Unfortunately, clay fabric samples for many TEM and SEM studies were not prepared properly, rendering the final observations suspect in terms of the original features characteristic of the sediment. Standards were found to be virtually nonexistent for clay fabric analysis, sample preparation, assessing bulk sample quality, and electron microscopy techniques. In a few studies, the need for careful laboratory techniques applied to the study of clay fabric was recognized. However, no basic standards have been established.