Premium
THE ORIGIN OF BEDDED PENNSYLVANIAN FIRE CLAYS IN THE UNITED STATES 1
Author(s) -
Hodson Floyd
Publication year - 1927
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1927.tb18501.x
Subject(s) - pennsylvanian , leaching (pedology) , swamp , geology , geochemistry , chemistry , mineralogy , environmental chemistry , soil science , paleontology , soil water , ecology , structural basin , biology
The bedded Pennsylvanian fire clays are practically all formed in the Pottsville and Allegheny series, and are associated more or less closely with coal beds, although all underclays are not refractory. Various theories have been advanced to explain the origin of these fire clays, but there seem to be serious objections to most of them. The author believes that the clays here discussed were mostly deposited in swamps and owe their purity to the leaching action of waters containing carbonic and organic acids, which leached out the iron, alkalis, etc. Such leaching would occur chiefly in those portions of the swamp where the water was circulating along channels. Differential leaching would therefore explain variable composition in the underclays.