A Mineralogical Study of Diatomite in Leizhou Peninsula
摘要
In this paper diatomite samples taken from the Leizhou Peninsula have been studied by chemical analysis, DTA, TG, XRD, IR ,SEM and X-ray Energy Spectroscopy.The study shows that the diatomaceous genera and species and their organic contents are variable with buried depth ,from Melosira to Stephanodiscus and then to Cyclotella. Various impurities in the samples, such as quartz, kaolinite and montmorillonite indicate different sedimentary environments. When heated, the diatom would change in shape due to the phase transformation in which amorphous silica crystallized from disordered opal to ordered cristobalite. The temperatures of phase transformation are different for various diatoms due to the presence of different impurities and constituents of diatomaceous genera and species.