… From a geometrical point of view, it is thought that clay destabilization is mainly 36 controlled by phenomena starting at the edge faces of the particles. 37In the present work, the rates of the smectite-Fe(0) reaction at 80°C was assessed by XRD, 38 Mössbauer and CEC analyses for three smectites. The investigations show marked 39 differences in the degree of stability, which can not be explained by the crystal-chemistry 40 rules established in previous studies. Therefore, the Fe(0)-smectite interactions were studied 41 in view of textural and energetic surface quantitative analyses. The studied smectites have 42 equivalent nitrogen BET specific surface areas, equivalent argon edge surface areas and 43 slightly different basal surface areas. This similarity in particle shape indicates that the edge 44 surface area can not be accounted for when explaining the observed differences in reactivity. 45However, a correlation is obtained between smectite reactivity and the energetic 46 heterogeneity of its edge faces. This is interpreted in terms of a multiplication of the number 47 of sites on the edge faces, where the electron transfer between Fe(0) and the smectite 48 structure can occur. 49 3 50
INTRODUCTION 51 52Iron-clay reactions are of great importance in soils and in sedimentary and diagenetic 53 processes. In soils, the evolution of clay minerals is mainly controlled by oxidation-reduction 54 reactions. Kaolinite is very reactive in media under varying redox conditions, but Fe-rich 55 TOT clay minerals are even more reactive, and great changes in their properties may occur 56 (e.g. Favre et al. 2002). Low temperature, iron-rich, clayey environments are also described 57 in sedimentary verdine facies (Bailey 1988; Odin 1988; Odin 1990), in diagenetic oolitic 58 ironstones (Bhattacharyya 1983; Bhattacharyya 1986) and in sandstones (Hornibrook and 59 Longstaffe 1996;Aagaard et al. 2000; Hillier and Velde 1992;Hillier 1994). In these natural 60 systems, iron is present as iron oxides and/ or hydroxides (e.g. Odin 1988;Buatier et al. 1989; 61 Walker and Thompson 1990;Hornibrook and Longstaffe 1996), although metallic iron, 62Fe(0), has only been identified in contact with clay in extraterrestrial materials, such as CM 63 carbonaceous chondrites. In this case, when heating of the asteroid induces fusion of accreted 64 ice, cronstedtite, a Fe-rich 7Å mineral, is formed by interaction between olivine and FeNi 65 metal (Zolensky and McSween 1988;Brearley 1997;Zega and Buseck. 2003 Other possible controlling parameters, which were not analyzed in Lantenois' work, are those 95 describing the surface properties. Indeed, phyllosilicate surfaces have strong differential 96 reactivity because of the extreme anisotropy of their structure (Cases et al., 1986; Bickmore 97 et al., 2001), the irregular surface topography (e.g., kinks, edges and adatoms) and the 98 5 presence of defects (Metz et al., 2005). For example, concerning the alkaline dissolution of 99 smectites (Sato et al. 2003), it has been confirmed t...