Claysphere : past, present and future

概要

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The new term, "Claysphere" proposed by Organizing Committee of ICC2005 is a modified term of Biosphere. The committee may emphasize that clays coexist with living things and have similar nature with those of organic polymers. Past : Evidences reported so far in geo sciences suggest that large quantities of clays were formed by the impact of extraterrestrial object to the early ocean during 4.0 3.8 Gyrs ago. In the same event, Fe-Ni metals, Fe-Ni sulfides and graphite formed variable organic molecules, some of which were bio organic molecules. They could survive in strong radiation of UV by dissolving into the sea and being adsorbed by clays. Clay and life have so coexisted from deep past of their origins. Present : "Ecological change brought about by human activities such as mining, utilization and abandonment has to be minimized", is the consensus of the world. Because clays are constituent of the natural environment, clay science and technology are expected to create new materials with clays usable in the present society, even in the free market system. Future : Clays are always mixtures of small particles in dimension of some or some tens of nanometers. "Crystal" having composition averaged over the mixture may not be correct image of clays. Clays are familiar material but we do not know its detail yet. Such basic studies of clay minerals, if any, may open a new field of "Claysphere".
日本粘土学会の論文
2003-03-28