Minéraux argileux: structure cristalline, identification par diffraction de rayons X. Alain Bouchet, Alain Meunier and Paul Sardini. Bullétin Centre Recherches Elf Exploration Production Mémoire23, 136 pp., 126 figures, 30 tables, 2000. [ISBN 2-901 026-50-8]. Price $29 including surface-rate shipping and handling (+$10 by airmail, or +$5 by priority mail (available from the Clay Minerals Society office)).

Abstract

The objective of this book and its accompanying CD is to provide a practical manual for teaching students the crystal structures of clay minerals and to train them to identify clay minerals using X-ray diffraction methods. Written in French with the foreword translated into English, the book is aimed primarily at filling a gap for this type of text in Francophone countries. The CD is in both French and English and will be useful to a broader audience. The publication costs were underwritten by Elf Exploration Production (Elf EP) and Agence Nationale pour la gestion des Dechets Radioactifs (ANDRA), which has allowed for high-quality color printing throughout the book. The book has four chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Crystal structures of phyllosilicates’, consists primarily of a systematic development of the concepts necessary to understand the crystal structures of the phyllosilicates, beginning with concepts of ionic radii and packing of spheres and ending with an introduction to mica polytypes, interstratification, charge development, and aggregate formation. This chapter is well illustrated with many attractive structural diagrams, all in color. It is unfortunate, however, that the structural diagrams are rendered without shading, which would make it much easier for students to visualize the three-dimensional nature of the representations. Chapter 2, ‘Chemical composition and properties of clays’, begins with calculation of structural formulae from chemical data, then introduces triangular diagrams showing the compositional relationships between the different clay minerals, and ends …