Bentonite, Fayette County, Texas
Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phyllosilicate clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. Specimen Location: 2 miles west of Flatonia, Fayette County, Texas Chemical Formula (Montmorillonite): (Na,Ca)0.33(Al,Mg)2(Si4O10)(OH)2 · nH2O Crystal System: Monoclinic Vial Weight: 101 grams UT Collection ID: TMM-193 Main uses of bentonite are for drilling mud, binder (e.g. foundry-sand bond, iron ore pelletizer), purifier, absorbent (e.g. pet litter), and as a groundwater barrier. About 50% of bentonite is used in drilling muds. In the permanent collection of the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin.
Clay for Stoneware, Fayette County, Texas
Fine grade Bentonite clay appropriate for Stoneware. Locality: Lena, on FM 154, four miles south of West Point in NW Fayette County. Chemical Formula: (Montmorillinite) (Na,Ca)0.33(Al,Mg)2(Si4O10)(OH)2 · nH2O Crystal System: Monoclinic Specimen Size: 7.5 x 4 x 5 cm Vial Weight: 196 grams UT Collection ID: TMM-2524 In the late 1920's and continuing for the next thirty-five years the Earthen Products, Millwhite, and Texas companies excavated clay pits and shipped bentonite clay from extensive deposits described by J. C. Melcher in 1902. The Texas Company built an extensive processing plant on a spur line to the railroad and provided cottages for about twenty employees. In the permanent collection of the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin.
Lignite coal, Fayette County, Texas
Lignite aka brown coal, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content. Location: Shaft mines operated south of Ledbetter in north Fayette County from 1905 to 1908 where two beds of lignite, 7 and 8 feet thick, were mined at depths of 55 and 95 feet. Specimen size: 4 x 3 x 1.5 inches Specimen weight: 113 grams Collection reference: TMM 2502 Additional Information: Lignites in the Manning Formation of Fayette County generally are poorer inquality than lignites of the Wilcox Group. Especially notable is the relatively high content of ash in the Fayette County lignites. The following analysis of gas distillate from Fayette County lignite is recorded by Phillips and Worrell (1913, p. 202): Gas yield, cv. ft. /dry ton = 6,435 Illuminants, %. = 2.2 Carbon monoxide, % = 21.9 Hydrogen, %. = 44.2 Methane, % = 19.7 Nitrogen, % = 10.8 Specific gravity = .492 Candle power = -1. B.t.u. /cu. ft. (calc.) = 458 Information from "Lignites of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain" by William L. Fisher, University of Texas, BEG ROI #50, October, 1963.