Clay mineral
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Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces.
Oxford Clay (Jurassic) exposed near Weymouth, England
Structure of clay mineral groups
Clay
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Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as
Clay mineral
…abiogenesis involve them. They are important constituents of soils, and have been useful to humans since ancient times in agriculture and manufacturing. Clay is a very fine-grained geologic material that develops plasticity when wet, but becomes hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. It is a…
Boulder clay cliff south of Withernsea, England
A 23,500 times magnified electron micrograph of smectite clay
Italian and African-American clay miners in mine shaft, 1910
Clay layers in a construction site in Auckland, New Zealand. Dry clay is normally much more stable than sand in excavations.