bentonite, clay formed by the alteration of minute glass particles derived from volcanic ash. It was named for Fort Benton, Mont., near which it was discovered.
The formation of bentonite involves the alteration of volcanic glass to clay minerals; this requires hydration (taking up or combination with water) and a loss of alkalies, bases, and possibly silica, with the preservation of the textures of the original volcanic glass. Bentonite consists chiefly of crystalline clay minerals belonging to the smectite group, which are hydrous aluminum silicates containing iron and magnesium as well as either sodium or calcium. Two types of bentonite are recognized, and the uses of each depend on specific physical properties.
Sodium bentonites absorb large quantities of water, swelling to many times their original volume, and give rise to permanent suspensions of gellike masses. These have been used to seal dams; in bonding foundry sands, asbestos, and mineral wool; as drilling muds; in portland cements and concrete, ceramics, emulsions, insecticides, soaps, pharmaceuticals, and paints; in the manufacture of paper; for clarifying water, juices, and liquors; and as a water softener to remove calcium from hard water. Calcium bentonites are nonswelling and break down to a finely granular aggregate that is widely used as an absorbent clay sometimes called fuller’s earth.
Bentonite occurs in rocks that were deposited in the Ordovician to Neogene periods (about 488.3 to 2.6 million years ago). In the United States the principal producers are Wyoming, Montana, California, Arizona, and Colorado. Important world producers are Greece, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Romania, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, India, Hungary, Poland, Canada, Turkey, and Cyprus.