An obsolete name for altered material, probably vermiculite.

A pedofeature involving material (commonly oriented clay coatings, but also gels, amorphous, etc. coatings) that covers the surfaces of voids, grains, and aggregates, and are common in paleosols. Cutans may be derived and differentiated as diffusion cutans, illuviation cutans, and stress cutans. Other cutans may describe compositional variations. Cutans may be identified in a paleosol or soil under the optical microscope. See pedofeature :

– argillan : An (oriented) clay coating over grains, voids, or aggregates. Compositional characteristics may be used as prefex modifiers, as “ferri-argilan” (iron oxide stained) or “organo-argillan” (stained by organic matter). See cutan, pedofeature, ferran, mangan. Syn., clay skin.

– calcan : A cutan composed of calcite.

– ferran : A cutan of iron oxide and hydroxide

– mangan : A cutan of manganese oxide and hydroxide

– organan : A cutan composed of organic matter

– silan : A cutan formed of opal or chalcedony

– sesquan : A cutan composed of Al-Fe oxides

– soluan : A cutan of soluble salts (e.g. gypsum)

A poorly defined material, possibly muscovite and albite.

An obsolete term for muscovite.

An obsolete term for a low-Si chlorite.

A discredited term for pimelite.

A substance that disperses particles to form a colloidal or near-colloidal suspension when added to a slurry that contains clumps of particles that have aggregated to form larger non-fused particles. Common deflocculants for simple (non-exchanged) clay systems include sodium carbonate or sodium phosphates, such as sodium pyrophosphate. These deflocculants produce a buffered, high pH solution and are especially useful when size-separating clay particles.
Cf. flocculation.

To disperse clumps of small particles adhering together in a suspension to form a colloid or near-colloid suspension. The resulting suspension is more fluid than the original.

The removal of H₂O from a phase. The H₂O may be present as an integral part of the atomic structure or as “free” (adsorbed) water. Dehydration commonly is achieved by heating or by evaporation.

Any phase obtained by elimination of the hydroxyl from phyllosilicates prior to recrystallization. (Quot Guggenheim et al., 2006)