Natural and Engineered Clay Barriers

Clays are used as barriers for the isolation of landfills and contaminated sites. They are envisioned as long-term storage media for hazardous materials and radioactive wastes, and as seals in the case of geological CO2 sequestration or energy storage. Clay properties greatly influence the integrity, efficiency, and safety of these applications. 

Natural and Engineered Clay Barriers provides a clear view of the fundamental properties of clay materials and how these properties affect their engineering applications. This volume focuses on how the mass transfer properties (hydraulic permeability, gas fluxes, molecular diffusion, semi-permeable membrane properties), geochemical reactivity (adsorption, dissolution) and mechanical properties of clay barriers at the macroscale are influenced by phenomena that occur at clay mineral - water interfaces.

Introduction, C. Tournassat, C. I. Steefel, I. C. Bourg, F. Bergaya Ch.1. Surface properties of clay minerals, C. Tournassat, I. C. Bourg, C. I. Steefel, F. Bergaya Ch.2. Adsorption of inorganic and organic solutes by clay minerals, M. Borisover and J. A. Davis Ch.3. Chemical conditions in clay-rocks, C. Tournassat, A. Vinsot, E.C. Gaucher, S. Altmann Ch.4. Dissolution kinetics of clay minerals, J. Cama and J. Ganor Ch.5. Stability of clay barriers under chemical perturbations, O. Bildstein and F. Claret Ch.6. Self-diffusion of water and ions in clay barriers, I.C. Bourg and C. Tournassat Ch.7. Gas transfer through clay barriers, A. Amann-Hildenbrand, B. M. Krooss, J. Harrington, R. Cuss, C. Davy, F. Skoczylas, E. Jacops, N. Maes Ch.8. Semi-permeable membrane properties and chemo-mechanical coupling in clay barriers, J. Gonçalves, P.M. Adler, P. Cosenza, A. Pazdniakou, G. de Marsily Ch.9. Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of natural and engineered clay barriers, J. Rutqvist Ch.10. Transport properties through partially-saturated charged membranes and geophysical approaches, A. Revil Ch.11. Up-scaling strategies for modeling clay-rock properties, V. Marry and B. Rotenberg Summary and perspectives, C. Tournassat, I. C. Bourg, C. I. Steefel, F. Bergaya