Effects of lime treatments on marls

Marly clay was treated with calcitic and Mg-rich lime in order to determine the influence of the clay's high carbonate content on the stabilization effectiveness. The evolution of mineralogical and physical properties over the course of the treatment were studied using XRD, TEM, SEM, elemental analysis, TG, granulometry, and nitrogen sorption and correlated with the marly clay's improved geotechnical behaviour. Only a small portion of smectites and other clay minerals dissolved upon lime treatment. Changes in clay mineralogy had, thus, only very limited influence in the improvement of the material's plasticity and swelling behaviour, which was rather modified by an increase in particle size. This increase was primarily caused by aggregation induced by calcium silicate aluminium hydrate (C-(A)-S-H) formation, whereas flocculation had an only minor effect. After the initial improvement, disaggregation of clay particles occurred which resulted in a particle size decrease, most likely, caused by carbonation of C-(A)-S-H phases. These findings question the effectiveness of lime stabilization for marl using currently applied standard treatment protocols.