About glauconite
Glauconite is a natural inorganic compound which has a wide range of beneficial properties and resulting practical applications.
Glauconite is a natural inorganic compound which has a wide range of beneficial properties and resulting practical applications. The mineral has excellent sorption properties due to its layered structure, which is capable of absorbing liquid and gaseous substances from the environment and retaining them in the interlayer. Due to its fairly high potassium and phosphorus oxide content, glauconite is used in agriculture as an independent, chlorine- free, phosphorus potash fertilizer with a prolonged action that does not require additional application. Glauconite has a positive impact on soil, increases yields and reduces plant disease.
Glauconite has a layered structure, highly differentiated surface and porosity, has a high cation exchange capacity, excellent sorption capacity and acts as a molecular sieve. At the same time, it is characterized by the almost complete absence of desorption of hazardous pollutants. The physical and chemical properties of glauconite make it practically irreplaceable for the creation of natural and artificial geochemical barriers.
Glauconite helps reduce irrigation costs. Due to the highly differentiated mineral surface, water vapour is absorbed from the air during dew formation and hydroaccumulation of water during irrigation. This was demonstrated during the 2010 drought, when with minimal or no irrigation, all plant roots remained in a moist state when measured.
Glauconite has hydrotrophic properties, converting water-insoluble compounds present in the soil into compounds that are water-soluble and easily assimilated by plants. This property of glauconite is based on the exchange of cations, the mobility of light noble metals and the formation of organometallic substances that facilitate the humification processes. Glauconite helps to decompose complex substances (nitrates, petroleum products, myriad dioxins, pesticides, etc.) into simpler and less hazardous compounds, and for this reason glauconite is referred to as a catalytic destructor.
Glauconite has hydrotrophic properties, converting water-insoluble compounds present in the soil into compounds that are water-soluble and easily assimilated by plants. This property of glauconite is based on the exchange of cations, the mobility of light noble metals and the formation of organometallic substances that facilitate the humification processes. Glauconite helps to decompose complex substances (nitrates, petroleum products, myriad dioxins, pesticides, etc.) into simpler and less hazardous compounds, and for this reason glauconite is referred to as a catalytic destructor.
The use of glauconite as a structural ameliorant has been proven to be a highly cost effective way of restoring the fertility of all types of problematic, arid and saline soils. Once in the soil, it acts as a multifunctional fertilizer and a sorbent that binds pollutants, preventing them from entering human food and groundwater.