Palygorskite and Sepiolite Deposits in the Ussr and Their Uses

Abstract

Publisher Summary Till 1960, reported palygorskite occurrences, in the form of mountain-skin and mountain-cork-like accumulations over crystalline rocks as well as in limestone and thin clay layer deposits were of no economic value. Formations of palygorskite occurrences are common in all regions of the USSR. They are found in the central regions of the European part of the USSR near the Volga, in Crimea, in Transcaucasian regions, in Central Asia, in Transbaikal regions, in the Urals and Jakutsk ASSR. In 1960 prospecting of Ukrainian palygorskite clay deposits were reported. These first major deposits in Eurasia are analogous both in composition and properties to attapulgite in the USA. Some years later, major palygorskite deposits were also reported in Central Asia. Recent prospecting indicated the commercial value of some of the palygorskite deposits, prompting the necessity to generalize available geological data. Palygorskite manifestations associated with crystalline rock weathering are widely spread over the territory of the USSR. They are chiefly in the form of vast inter layers of mountain-skin in gruss of weathered amphibole diorite near Kurtsy Village, not far from Symferopol (Crimea), in weathered basaltic and granite crusts in Volyn and Zhitomir District (the Ukraine), in the weathered crust of sericite and phlogopite shales within the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, in the weathered crust of serpentinized dolomite in Kurganshinkan (Uzbekistan), and in the weathered crust of serpentine rock in the Urals.