Abstract
A YEAR ago Mr. John Arthur Phillips, in criticising, before the Geological Society, my theory of kaolinisation as a source of superficial rock temperatures, made a point which is interesting in its bearing upon the composition of derived or secondary lithological products. He endeavoured to ascertain the number of tons of felspathic rock that must be yearly kaolinised in order to supply the quantity of alkalies known to be contained in the mine waters of the Comstock silver lode in Nevada, and in doing so he began with the supposition that in the process of kaolinisation all of the alkali in the felspar goes into solution and is removed. This assumption is undoubtedly incorrect, for even the surface clays which are deposited from running water, and therefore must have been subjected to a maximum leaching, almost invariably contain potassic and sodic salts, as any one may learn by studying the subject of fireclays.
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CHURCH, J. Subterranean Kaolinisation. Nature 22, 317 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022317a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022317a0
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