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Clay minerals play an important part in everyday life. They are used by petroleum engineers to make up drilling muds and in waste disposal to isolate tips from the surrounding environment. Clay minerals occur naturally within petroleum reservoirs and can cause extraction problems; they can also influence the behaviour of geothermal power systems. This book contains selected research and review chapters which deal with theoretical and applied aspects of clay minerals. The four review chapters cover the geochemical characterization of porous solids and aggregates using synchroton radiation techniques, the phenomenon of overpressuring, primary global distributions of clay minerals, and the use of clays as barriers in waste disposal. Examples of how current research bears on current problems vary from computer simulation of the atomic structure of clays at the molecular level, through to experimental studies of clay mineral stability in surface and diagenetic environments to evidence for clay-fluid reactions in natural mudrocks and chemical studies of pore waters from clay sequences and adjacent to radioactive waste disposal sites. This interdisciplinary book aims to provide the opportunity for geochemists and mineralogists to learn about applications of their work within a number of different fields. It should provide a valuable source of information for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as acting as a useful reference book for more experienced scientists.
