CLAY MINERALOGY OF SOME SEASONALLY FLOODED SOILS OF EAST PAKISTAN

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Abstract
Summary: The clay fractions of four seasonally flooded soils from East Pakistan have been studied using X‐ray, DTA, and infra‐red methods, total chemical analysis, surface area determination, and electron microscopy. The soils represent young alluvium (Borda), a juvenile groundwater laterite (Nunni), a groundwater lateritelatosol intergrade (Noadda), and a surface‐water glei (Chhiata). Mica and kaolinite were present in all the soils, and vermiculite in all except possibly Noadda. Vermiculite, total magnesium content, and SiO2/Al2O3 ratio decreased and kaolinite increased in the sequence Borda–Nunni–Noadda. Electron micrographs indicated that in the Borda soil, which is the youngest and subjected to the longest period of annual flooding, iron hydroxides are present as gels coating the surfaces of the clay mineral particles. Such coatings are less apparent in the Nunni clay, and in the Noadda clay most of the ‘free iron oxides’ appear as small granules. The Chhiata soil has about 12.5 per cent of its clay fraction in the form of an amorphous gel rich in silica, and much of the mica and vermiculite in a randomly interstratified complex.