“…Therefore, oxido-reduction reactions of layer silicates often play an important role in environmental processes including weathering, microbial activity, and diagenetic transformations (Egashira and Ohtsubo, 1983;Stucki et al, 1987Stucki et al, , 1996. Redox reactions modify the chemical and physical properties of Fe-containing smectites, such as cation-exchange capacity (CEC), specific surface area, swelling behavior, and ability to fix interlayer cations (Khaled and Stucki, 1991;Stucki, 1985, 1989;Stucki et al, 1984Stucki et al, , 1996. Consequently, the texture (Gates et al, 1998;Stucki and Tessier, 1991), permeability (Shen et al, 1992), and fertility of formations in which Fe-containing smectites are present (Stucki, 1988) are affected.…”