High-resolution electron-microscopic studies of structural faults in layered silicates

Abstract

High-resolution (00l) and (h0l) lattice images offer a direct means of probing the nature of the imperfections in, and regularity of, the three sheet silicates: kaolinite, zussmanite and stilpnomelane. Whereas very few if any faults can be detected lying in or emergent at the basal planes of these minerals, the stacking disorder which leads to polytypism can be directly assessed in zussmanite and, to a lesser degree, in stilpnomelane from identifiable deviations in (h0l) lattice fringes.