Cenozoic ceramic clay of the Central Black earth region

Abstract

The ceramic clays of the Cenozoic Voronezh anteclise were formed in the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs. These clays accumulated in shallow-water or alluvial facies. Their quality is lower than that of the ceramic clays of the Aptian tier, but when adding additives, they can be used for the manufacture of ceramic products. The article discusses the material composition of Cenozoic ceramic clays, which determines the technological properties of the studied raw materials. In the mineral composition, illite, smectite and kaolin are noted. These are acidic and semi-acidic clay, usually with a high content of coloring oxides. The electron microscopic images are dominated by irregularly shaped terrigenous kao-linite pups with a change in pseudo-hexagonal plates. In Miocene clays, in addition to kaolinite of irregular shape, vermicular crystals are noted, which may indicate ripening of clays under conditions of flow diagenesis. By the totality of the material composition and technological properties, the Eocene sediments are the least promising among the ceramic clay clays considered to reveal in them. The most promising are the alluvial formations of the Miocene and Pliocene.