Relationships between chemical, physical and mineralogical characteristics of the Rupelian Boom Clay, Belgium

Decleer, J.; Viaene, Willy; Vandenberghe, Noël

doi:10.1180/claymin.1983.018.1.01

Cited by 35 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Remarkably, the organic matter shows a moderate, positive correlation with the clay content, while the pyrite does not. In a comparable study on Belgian Boom Clay for the clay products industry, the same factors and correlations were observed (Decleer et al, 1983), yet Decleer et al (1983) observed a clear correlation between organic matter, pyrite and the clay mineral content. According to the authors, this correlation is mainly sedimentological and reflects reducing conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Characterisation of the geochemical heterogeneity of the Rupel Clay Member in the Netherlands

Koenen¹,

Griffioen

2016

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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Samples from Rupel Clay across the Netherlands were analysed for the assessment of its heterogeneity in geochemistry and mineralogy. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and bulk and clay fraction X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses of 152 samples from 17 different cores are presented and statistically interpreted. The results show a wide variation in the quartz, feldspar, clay mineral and carbonate content between the different samples. Factor analysis showed that the main variance between the samples can be explained by the clay mineral and quartz concentration, the carbonate content and pyrite plus organic matter. In the south of the Netherlands, the Rupel Clay is more quartz-rich and coarse grained. In addition, the clay is heterogeneous, varying with location and depth, consistent with observations for Belgium Boom Clay. Towards the north, the Rupel Clay becomes more clay-rich, finer grained and more homogeneous, both laterally and with depth. In addition, the clay has a relatively high carbonate and organic matter content. The pyrite content does not show any trends with location and depth. The differences between north and south are explained by the variations in depositional setting within the southern North Sea Basin.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Characterisation of the geochemical heterogeneity of the Rupel Clay Member in the Netherlands

Koenen¹,

Griffioen

2016

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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“…4). Table 1 (Decleer et al, 1983;AlMukhtar et al, 1996) presents the mineralogical composition of Boom clay. The clay fraction is dominant (50-62% , 2 ìm).…”

Section: Materials and Sample Preparationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Investigating the time-dependent behaviour of Boom clay under thermomechanical loading

et al. 2009

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Boom clay, a stiff clay, has been selected as a potential host formation for the geological disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. The underground research facility HADES has been constructed to enable various in situ experiments to be performed on Boom clay so as to study the feasibility of high-level radioactive waste disposal, and to provide reliable data on the performance of Boom clay as a host formation. Among the various laboratory studies performed on samples extracted from the HADES facility to investigate the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom clay, relatively few were devoted to the time-dependent behaviour, limiting any relevant analysis of the long-term behaviour of the disposal facility. The present work aims at investigating the time-dependent behaviour of Boom clay under both thermal and mechanical loading. High-pressure triaxial tests at controlled temperatures were carried out for this purpose. The tests started with constant-rate thermal and/or mechanical consolidation and ended with isobar heating and/or isothermal compression at a constant stress rate or by step loading. The results obtained confirmed the effect of the overconsolidation ratio (OCR) on the thermal volume changes (i.e. thermal dilation under high OCRs and thermal contraction with OCR close to unity). Significant effects of temperature as well as of compression and heating rates were also observed on the volume change behaviour. After being loaded to a stress lower than the preconsolidation pressure (5 MPa) at a low temperature of 258C and at a rate lower than 0 . 2 kPa/min, the sample volume changes seemed to be quite small, suggesting a full dissipation of pore water pressure. By contrast, after being subjected to high loading and heating rates (including step loading or step heating), the volume changes appeared to be significant, particularly in the case of stresses much higher than the preconsolidation pressure. Because of its low permeability, full consolidation of Boom clay required a long period of time, and it was difficult to distinguish consolidation and creep from the total volume change with time.

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“…Therefore, its bulk chemical composition and bulk physical and chemical properties are very well known. Classical studies include mineralogical, geochemical and granulometric investigations, comprising solid phase mineralogical characterisation via X-ray diffraction (Vandenberghe, 1974(Vandenberghe, , 1978Decleer et al, 1983;Laenen, 1997;Zeelmaekers, 2011), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (Wouters et al, 1999;FUNMIG, 2008), thermal gravimetric analysis (FUNMIG, 2008), surface area analysis (Baeyens et al, 1985;Honty et al, 2010) and cation exchange capacity measurements (Baeyens et al, 1985;Griffault et al, 1996;Honty et al, 2010). For elemental analysis, atomic absorption and emission spectroscopy (AAS/AES), X-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) were applied (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…For elemental analysis, atomic absorption and emission spectroscopy (AAS/AES), X-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) were applied (e.g. Decleer et al, 1983, Decleer & Viaene, 1993Laenen, 1997;De Craen et al 2000;Zeelmaekers, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

Variations in the morphology of porosity in the Boom Clay Formation: insights from 2D high resolution BIB-SEM imaging and Mercury injection Porosimetry

Hemes

Desbois

Urai

et al. 2013

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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Boom Clay is considered as one of the potential host rocks for the disposal of high level and/or long lived radioactive waste in a geological formation in Belgium (Mol study site, Mol-1 borehole) and the Netherlands. The direct characterisation of the pore space is essential to help understand the transport properties of radionuclides in argillaceous materials.This contribution aims to characterise and compare the morphology of the pore space in different Boom Clay samples, representing end-members with regard to mineralogy (i.e. clay content) and grain-size distribution of this formation. Broad ion beam (BIB) cross-sectioning is combined with SEM imaging of porosity and Mercury injection Porosimetry (MIP) to characterise the variability of the pore space in Boom Clay at the nm- to μm-scale within representative 2D areas and to relate microstructural observations to fluid flow properties of the bulk sample material. Segmented pores in 2D BIB surfaces are classified according to the mineralogy, generating representative datasets of up to 100,000 pores per cross-section.Results show total SEM-resolved porosities of 10-20% and different characteristic mineral phase internal pore morphologies and intra-phase porosities.Most of the nano-porosity resides in the clay matrix. In addition, in the silt-rich samples, larger inter-aggregate pores contribute to a major part of the resolved porosity. Pore-size distributions within the clay matrix suggest power-law behaviour of pore areas with exponents between 1.56-1.74. Mercury injection Porosimetry, with access to pore-throat diameters down to 3.6 nm, shows total interconnected porosities between 27-35 Vol.-%, and the observed hysteresis in the MIP intrusion vs. extrusion curves suggests relatively high pore-body to pore-throat ratios in Boom Clay. The difference between BIB-SEM visible and MIP measured porosities is explained by the resolution limit of the BIB-SEM method, as well as the limited size of the BIB-polished cross-section areas analysed. Compilation of the results provides a conceptual model of the pore network in fine- and coarse-grained samples of Boom Clay, where different mineral phases show characteristic internal porosities and pore morphologies and the overall pore space can be modelled based on the distribution of these mineral phases, as well as the grain-size distribution of the samples investigated.

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Relationships between chemical, physical and mineralogical characteristics of the Rupelian Boom Clay, Belgium

Cited by 35 publications

References 2 publications

Characterisation of the geochemical heterogeneity of the Rupel Clay Member in the Netherlands

Characterisation of the geochemical heterogeneity of the Rupel Clay Member in the Netherlands

Investigating the time-dependent behaviour of Boom clay under thermomechanical loading

Variations in the morphology of porosity in the Boom Clay Formation: insights from 2D high resolution BIB-SEM imaging and Mercury injection Porosimetry

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