RT Journal Article T1 Las bentonitas de Benavila (Portugal). Caracterización mineralógica y propiedades T1 Bentonites from Benavila (Portugal). Mineralogicdl tlidraclerisdliun and properties A1 Dias, María Isabel A1 Suárez Barrios, M. A1 Prates, S. AB The igneous massif of Benavila (Portugal) is constituted by rocks of granitoid nature, especially granodiorites associated to quartzdiorites, partially covered with palaeogenic sediments. A chemical, mineralógicaI and textural characterisation of clay materials deriving from weathering of those rocks has been done.Clays resulting of the weathered granodiorites of Benavila, are very rich in smectites. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of the bulk sample enhance the clayey characteristics of those materials, mainly associated to calcite, and traces of quartz and feldspars. A monomineralic clay sample has been chosen for a more detailed study. The clay fraction XRD results enhance the presence of only smectite, that is well crystallized and dioctahedral. A structural formula for this smectite of Benavila is proposed. The chemical analysis points to a Tatatila smectite type, relatively enriched in iron.The exchange cation capacity has been calculated in the bulk sample and in the < 2 pm fraction. The Specific Surface area has been evaluated in the 77°K nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, applying the BET method. A porosity study has also been made through the t-curves. The results obtained with all those analyses are lower than the usually presented in literature PB Sociedad Geológica de España YR 2003 FD 2003 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/9003 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/9003 LA spa DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva RD 29 may 2026