Relationships between chemical, physical and mineralogical characteristics of the Rupelian Boom Clay, Belgium

Abstract

AbstractThe Boom Clay is an important raw material for the Belgian structural clay products industry. It can be divided into several lithological sub-units. In order to obtain an insight in the parameters which characterize these different units, and which affect the overall properties of the clay, a detailed chemical, physical and mineralogical analysis was carried out. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the variables, which were then placed in four correlation groups: a quartz/clay mineral group, a reducing component group, a carbonate group and a feldspar group. This treatment of the data allowed three analysis parameters to be selected: <2 µm fraction, organic carbon and CO2. The other variables could be calculated fairly accurately from these by means of regression lines.