Open AccessTHE ECOLOGICAL ROLE OF CLAYS AND CLAY MINERALS
Author(s) -
В. А. Королев
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
inženernaâ geologiâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2587-8247
pISSN - 1993-5056
DOI - 10.25296/1993-5056-2019-14-1-60-71
Subject(s) - clay minerals , biosphere , ecosystem , earth science , geology , geochemistry , mineral , ecology , environmental science , biology
The article considers the ecological role played by clays and clay minerals in the ecosystem and the biosphere as a whole. The value of clays and clay minerals in the origin of life on Earth and the formation of RNA are analyzed, due to the periodicity of the microstructure of these minerals, their physicochemical activity and sorption capacity with respect to amino acids, nucleotides, proteins and RNA. The processes of interaction of clay minerals with organic matter are considered, including under conditions of hydrothermal conditions, which have specific features that contribute to the origin of life. In addition, the ecological functions of the lithosphere due to clays and clay minerals were analyzed. It is shown that clays and clay minerals perform the most important ecological resource function, being a valuable mineral resource and mineral, participating in providing biota (including humans) with various mineral and energy resources of minerals, in providing biophilic resources, in providing renewable resources (water, oil and gas), in providing resources of the geological space, etc. Also, the clays perform an important ecological geochemical function, which consists in their participation in the geochemistry processes of the lithosphere and the formation of specific geochemical barriers that perform protective ecological functions on the migration routes of various contaminants. The ecological geodynamic function of clays consists in their influence on the development of endogenous and exogenous geological processes affecting the state and functioning of ecosystems. Finally, the participation of clays in ensuring the geophysical ecological function of the lithosphere consists in their influence on the formation of both natural and man-made geophysical fields in ecological-geological systems. Thus, clays and clay minerals have a great influence on ecological and geological systems, they are involved in the formation of all the most important ecological functions of the lithosphere: resource, geochemical, geodynamic and geophysical. Among them, the most significant is the role of clays and clay minerals in ensuring the resource ecological function of the lithosphere.