I was wondering whether the calcite is linked with the clay fraction and in the procedure of decalcification, there will be a loss of clay content.
Actually you can expect the clay fraction to increase relative to other fractions as concreted composites release there clay minerals.
The calcite seems to have nothing to do with the clay minerals though calcite is a product of cementitious reaction, it has its own unique properties which is different from clay minerals. Therefore I don't think so decalsification of calcite will affect clay mineral content.
The outcome of pretreatment with HCl is not predictable. Doing pretreatment or not depends on your scientific aspects. Are you a sedimentologist and wish to have a pure signal of sedimentation or are you a pedologist and see those carbonate concretions as functional units of soil physical parameters.
I'll attach a link to some conference paper by colleagues who are recently dealing with that question.
There is also a chapter by M.D. Matthews in "Principles, Methods and Applications of Particle Size Analysis" (J.P.M. Syvitski) on "The effect of pretreatment on size analysis".
Best regards,
Simon
Conference Paper Influence of HCl pretreatment on laser diffraction measurements
Yes,it is necessary. PSD can be calculated free of CaCO3 content, moisture and OC. This is the procedure Soil Scientists follow even for calcareous soils with > 30% CaCO3.
In a similar study, one of my professional colleagues had advised me to do the analysis twice; with and without de-calcification. In the particle sized fractions, we estimate the CaCO3 % to get it fraction-ed in different particle sizes. Because CaCO3 may be distributed in different fractions with high percentages, so we need to compare between the two tests to see in which fraction it is concentrated.
Dear Rashad has mentioned about CaCO3 in different soil size fractions. It will be interesting to have clay size CaCO3 data for soils of the arid and semi-arid climates because some of the clay carbonate is the result of natural soil chemical degradation. You may refer to the attached pdf on the role carbonates in soil degradation.
Thank you everyone one for your clear answers , i can see much clearer in the procedure of decarbonatation in particle size analysis
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