[Terrapreta] More on clay/pottery etc

[Michael Bailes]

*Bentonite and Fuller's Earth
*More on Clay http://www.mineralszone.com/minerals/bentonite.html

Further explanation:

http://www.chelatedtraceminerals.com/definitions.html

> In terms of chemistry, clay minerals are hydrous aluminum phyllosilicates1,
> sometimes with variable amounts of Iron, Magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline
> earths and other cations2. In Geology fine-grained sediments with particle
> sizes of less than 0.0039 mm in size may be classified as clays.
>
> The healing properties of clays have been known to mankind since ancient
> Egyptian times. For centuries cultures as diverse as the Chinese, Essenes
> and various Native American tribes ranging from North to South America, have
> embraced the medicinal and nutritional uses of mineral clays.
>
> *Geologists classically divide clays into seven groupings:*
> Chlorite
> Illite
> Kaolin
> Lath-form
> Mixed-layer group (consists of five of its sister groups listed herewith)
> Smectite2
> Vermiculite
>
> All clays will adsorb3; however, the Smectite Group is the only clay of
> interest for our purposes here, i.e because it is uniquely capable of
> absorption . Unlike the other clay groupings, only Smectite is effective
> at absorbing toxins. Its peculiar structure and advantages, therefore, sets
> it apart from all other clays. Smectite is also characterized by its
> expandable properties. For this reason also, Smectite has become a
> favorite clay for agricultural and nutritional use. These reasons, inter
> alia, are why most clays sold in the health food industry belong to the
> Smectite grouping.
>
> *Within the Smectite grouping are several subdivisions2, including:*
>   Nontronite
> Pyrophyllite
> Saponite
> Sauconite  Bentonite
> Montmorillonite
> and *Talc*
>
> Without question, the most popular of the lot is Montmorillonite. This
> clay material is a very soft phyllosilicate1 that typically forms in
> microscopic crystals, producing a 2:1 clay, meaning that it has 2
> tetrahedral sheets sandwiching a central octahedral sheet.
>
> Between 1847 and 1898 *Montmorillonite* also gradually became known as a
> subfamily of clays while maintaining its status simultaneously as a
> unique, individual clay itself. This kind of resulting confusion (akin to
> "salt" as a general term for mineral, and "table salt" as a particular
> variety) spawned the term "Montmorillonoid" which to many is still a better
> classification for the Smectite5 clays, but Smectite seems to have
> ultimately won out in the literature.
>
> Bentonite is a name given by W.C. Knight in 1898 to a somewhat different
> clay that was originally found near Fort Benton, in eastern Wyoming. Before
> 1898, Bentonite was sometimes called Taylorite--named after William
> Taylor, who is the first noted to have begun to draw attention to the clay
> deposits in the USA.
>
> Alas, Bentonite [(Na.Ca)0.33(Al,Mg)2Si4O10(OH).nH2O], defined as a
> naturally-occurring, hydrated aluminum silicate, has had many other synonyms
> over the intervening decades including Fuller's Earth, hectorite, hormite
> clay bentonite magma, saponite, southern bentonite, tixoton, volclay,
> volclay bentonite BC, wilkinite, Wyoming Sodium Bentonite, Calcium
> Montmorillonite [montmorillonite (Ca)], Sodium Montmorillonite
> [montmorillonite (Na)]and just plain Montmorillonite6.
>
> However, nowadays, Montmorillonite in its simplest form (alternatively
> written as Al2O3 4SiO2 H2O)6 is commonly held to be a distinct and
> separate clay albeit, it is widely accepted to constitute one of the major
> components of Bentonite7. The truth is that nearly all clays mentioned so
> far, often contain at least small amounts of each other. Thus, it would seem
> to be a matter of degree when a distinct name becomes acceptable because the
> ratio of ingredients has swung far enough in one direction to warrant it.
>
> . . .
>
> It is Montmorillonite, however, that is known as the "living clay" because
> it contains a bouquet of essential minerals in trace amounts that may
> enhance the production of enzymes in most living organisms.
> Montmorillonite is often the preferred choice (over Bentonite, Diatomite,
> Zeolite, etc.) to use for soil amendment, and as added nutrition for plants,
> animals and humans, especially when ingested. Hence, it is an "edible clay".
> In agriculture it that can be used over an extremely wide area for
> remineralizing the soil. As an absorbant taken internally, it has even a
> more dramatic effect. According Robert T. Marin, a mineralogist from MIT9"Just one gram of this (ultra-)fine
> clay has a surface area of 800 square meters". That is a strip of turf the
> length of a soccer field and over 26 feet wide! What this means is that the
> greater the potential surface area of the clay, the greater its power to
> absorb and remove positively charged toxins and impurities in the body.
>

I think clays are acid while charcoal tends to be alkaline so there may be a
clue thery to why it was used in TP. Like charcoal it also has adsorption
properties.
If anyone could point me to reach aricles wher it was used as asoil
amendment i would apreciate it

-- 
Michael Bailes.
"Human beings,
who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of
others,
are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"
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