Smectite quantification in hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks

International audience; In volcanic environments, the presence of smectite may indicate recent hydrothermal circulations. Smectite is also responsible for enhanced rock electrical conductivity, as well as mechanical weakening. Therefore, 1 quantifying smectite is important in geothermal exploration. Smectite identification requires X-ray diffraction (XRD) but quantification based on XRD is time-consuming and not always accurate. In the present study, we investigate the use of an optimized unbuffered Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) measurement, by back-titration of the Coppertriethylenetetramine(II) "Cu-trien" molecule, to quantify the smectite content of altered volcanic rock samples. We establish that a satisfying trade-off between the instrument uncertainty and an independant systematic error is theoretically reached for a fraction of reactants consumed of about 30% at the end of the exchange reaction. We suggest a modification to classical protocols to fall in that range. Finally, we show that optimized CEC measurements by Cu-trien are a direct measure of the smectite weight fraction in altered volcanic samples, with an average CEC of pure smectite of 90 ± 5 meq/100g.