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Published in Soil Sci Soc Am J 38:423-428 (1974)
© 1974 Soil Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Fission Particle Tracks in Micas and Micaceous Vermiculites as Related to Chemical Weathering and Cation Exchange Properties1

S. Y. Lee, M. L. Jackson and I. B. Sachs2

ABSTRACT

Fission particle tracks from 238U impurities in natural micas and micaceous vermiculites were observed by scanning electron microscopy after hydrofluoric acid etching. Track frequency was increased by neutron activation in a thermal nuclear reactor. Without HF etching, the average rate of interlayer K+ released from micas saturated with UO22+ and activated, during 6 days depletion in 0.5N Mg(OAc)2 solutions at pH 7 renewed every few min, were 40 to 50% higher than that from nonactivated samples. Activated UO22+ saturated micaceous vermiculites from Colorado (CO) and Wisconsin (WI) liberated more K, Fe, and Si(OH)4 compared to that from the controls, in 0.5N Mg(OAc)2 at pH 4, renewed frequently. Weathering of micaceous minerals in nature would thus be accelerated by the additional diffusion of interlayer and structural cations through the natural fission particle tracks. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the activated micaceous vermiculites after UO22+ saturation increased from 16 to 25 meq/100g (CO) and from 6 to 12 meq/100g (WI) after the extensive salt treatments involved in CEC measurement, while negligible change in CEC occurred in the CO Na controls and one-third as much change occurred in the WI Na control. The observed higher K+ selectivity (relative to Ca2+) of the activated samples (0.86 for CO and 1.39 for WI), compared to the controls (0.43 and 1.21, respectively), indicates that activation provided an increase in edge wedge sites for the selective adsorption of fixing cations including the fission product 137Cs+.

NOTES

1 Research supported in part by the College of Agr. and Life Sci., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, under project 1336; in part by the Fine Wood Structure Division, Forest Products Laboratory, USDA, Madison, Wis.; and in part by the Ecological Sciences Branch, Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, US Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT (11-1)-1515-Jackson (Paper C00-1515-45); through an International Consortium for Interinstitutional Cooperation in the Advancement of Learning (ICICAL). Presented before a meeting of Div. S-2, Soil Science Society of America, Miami Beach, Florida, 29 Oct. 1972.

2 Research Assistant and Professor of Soil Science, Univ. of Wisconsin; and Cytologist, USDA; respectively.

Received for publication October 1, 1973. Accepted for publication February 18, 1974.






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