Characterization of clay Cretaceous and Pliocene of the
Tangier-Tetouan (north-west of Morocco) and Miocene clay in the region of
Meknes (center-northern Morocco) for their industrial application
*EL OUAHABI MERIAM1, FAGEL NATHALIE2
1Clay, Geochemistry and Sedimentary Environment (AGEs), University of Liege, Liége, B-4000, Belguim 2Clay, Geochemistry and Sedimentary Environment (AGEs), University of Liege, Liége, B-4000, Belguim
*Meriam.ElOuahabi@doct.ulg.ac.be
Clays are a natural resource used for millennia. Currently applications such as industrial minerals are very diversified. In this context, our goal is to estimate the potential of the many clay deposits in Morocco (the Tangier-Tetouan region and the region of Meknes). The choice of these regions is justified by the particular abundance of clay deposits used to manufacture building materials (bricks, ceramics and refractories) and pottery. But the widespread use of natural clays is based on any fundamental study of these materials.
Our study examines the sources of Cretaceous clays and Pliocene of the Tangier-Tetouan region (NW Morocco) and Miocene clay deposits in the region of Meknes (north-central Morocco). In Tangier-Tetouan region, Cretaceous clays are used particularly in the ceramics industry of walls and bricks. Training pliocènes below, consisting of a mixture of marl, sand and gravel, are traditionally used as feedstock in the production of pottery. Meknès deposits are made up of Miocene clay, these materials are used by industry bricks and ceramic as well as pottery. Forty samples were taken from over twenty sites in these two regions. To characterize these deposits, mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction (D8 Advance) has been an analysis of the mineralogy total powder and an analysis of the clay fraction <2 microns on aggregate oriented, tests quantization complete the mineralogical characterization. A laser particle size (Mastersizer 2000) of each sample is processed and test cation exchange capacity (CEC) to estimate the capacity of these deposits to resist changes cationic (ph..). Finally, geotechnical analysis (limit of plasticity, elasticity ....) Complete characterization of the deposits studied.
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