Morphological characteristics and microstructures of magnetic minerals extracted from Chinese loess and paleosols were investigated using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Our results indicate that maghemite in loess-paleosol sequences was transformed from magnetite through oxidation of magnetite. Maghemite transformed from eolian magnetite during chemical weathering has low-angle grain boundaries among maghemite nano-crystals. Some nano-crystalline maghemites with nanoporous texture resulted from microbe-induced precipitation of magnetite or transformation of poorly crystalline ferric Fe (oxy) hydroxides in presence of Fe-reducing bacteria. Aggregates of euhedral maghemite nanocrystals were transformed from magnetite magnetosomes. Both microbe-induced nanoporous magnetite and microbe-produced magnetite magnetosomes are directly related to microbial activities and pedogenesis of the paleosols. It is proposed that the formation of nano-crystalline maghemite with superparamagnetic property in paleosol results in the enhancement of magnetic susceptibility, although the total amount (weight percent) of magnetic minerals in both paleosol and loess units is similar. Our results also show that nano-crystalline and nanoporous magnetite grains prefer to transform into maghemite in semi-arid soil environments instead of hematite, although hematite is a thermodynamically stable phase. This result also indicates that a decrease in crystal size will increase stability of maghemite. It is also inferred that surface energy of maghemite is lower than that of hematite. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Palygorskite clays sampled from palygorskite clay deposits in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Many intergrowth phenomena of special ultra-microstructure between smectite and palygorskite were found. The ultra-microstructure indicates that palygorsite fiberrous crystals grow along (001) of primary smectite through structural transformation and decomposition of the primary smectite. According to field investigation and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, the transformation mechanism and process can be described as: formation of smectite from basalt weathering deposited in localization basin; evaporation of lake water in aridity environment causing pH increase and concentration of magnesium ion in interstice water of sediment smectite in the lake basin. Under alkaline conditions, magnesium ion occupied interlayer positions of the smectite. Because of the misfit between magnesium octahedral sheet and smectite layer, magnesium ion interaction with smectite layers caused the smectite to transform into palygorskite, and resulted in the formation of smectite and palygorskite complex particulates, and even smaller secondary smectite crystal plates. The transformation of smectite structure resulted in the formation of nanometer minerals with large specific surface area and excellent property of physics and chemistry in smectite-palygorskite mixing clay. The results from TEM investigation are important for understanding properties of palygorskite clay and application.

The results of TEM investigation indicate that magnetite and maghemite are the major ferromagnetic minerals in loess-paleosol sequences. Primary magnetite has the similar morphology and surface characteristics as eolian detrital particles. The magnetite can be classified into two categories, high-titanium and low-titanium, which may be the indicators of magmatic rocks and metamorphic rocks, respectively. TEM investigation at nanometer scale shows that primary detrital magnetite of micron scale had been partially weathered to maghemite of 5-20 nanometer during the pedogenic process, which maintain the pseudomorphism of the aeolian debris. Some chlorite particles were also weathered to nanometer scale magnetite or maghemite in the pedogenic process. So weathering of the two minerals leads to formation of superparamagnetism, which may be the important mechanism of magnetic-susceptibility increase in paleosols. The magnetite or maghemite resulting from the weathering of chlorite contains a small amount of P and S, which is the signal of microbe-mineral interaction, and indicates that microbes may play a certain role in chlorite weathering and formation of superparamagnetic particles.

本文对洛川黄土剖面典型样品进行了透射电镜分析，发现黄土中存在纳米棒状方解石。此类方解石直径30～50nm，长度几百纳米至几微米。纳米棒状晶体有圆滑地粗细变化和弯曲现象，偶见晶体连接成树枝状或晶体直角连接形成框架状形态。X2射线能谱分析显示方解石有少量的镁、磷和硫，这种纳米棒状方解石在国内外文献中鲜有报道。根据纳米尺度研究结果推测，这种纳米棒状方解石形成与生物衍生物诱导的定向结晶有关。纳米棒状方解石是一种重要的黄土堆积时期干旱环境指示矿物，其碳、氧稳定同位素组成代表黄土堆积时气候参数。纳米棒状方解石的发现，对环境中纳米矿物研究、黄土中碳酸盐碳成因及古气候研究具有重要价值。

污染物在矿物结构中的嵌入是固化、净化污染物的一种有前景的矿物学方法。焦磷酸根离子是工业废水中较难处理的工业磷污染源之一，研究新的除磷技术是水污染控制技术领域的重要课题之一。通过人工配制焦磷酸盐废水，初步研究镁-铝盐水解共沉淀法即时合成阴离子粘土去除焦磷酸根的效果、影响因素和焦磷酸根离子在阴离子粘土结构中的嵌入作用。研究结果表明，通过镁2铝盐水解共沉淀法即时合成阴离子粘土，焦磷酸根离子有效地嵌入阴离子粘土结构中，对焦磷酸根有非常好的去除效果。影响处理效果的主要因素是pH值和Mg/A1比值。pH值为9.0～10，Mg/A1比1∶1～3∶1时，都可以获得较好的去除效果。