Editing Kaolinite (section)

==Occurrence==
[[File:Kaznějov - kaolin quarry.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Kaolin mine in Czech Republic]]
Kaolinite is one of the most common minerals; it is mined, as kaolin, in [[Australia]], [[Brazil]], [[Bulgaria]], [[People's Republic of China|China]], [[Czech Republic]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Malaysia]], [[South Africa]], [[South Korea]],  [[Spain]], [[Tanzania]], [[Thailand]], [[United Kingdom]], [[United States]] and [[Vietnam]].<ref name=Mindat/>

Mantles of kaolinite are common in Western and Northern Europe. The ages of these mantles are [[Mesozoic]] to Early Cenozoic.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Piotr Migoń|author-link2=Karna Lidmar-Bergström|vauthors=Migoń P, Lidmar-Bergström K|date=2002|title=Deep weathering through time in central and northwestern Europe: problems of dating and interpretation of geological record|journal=Catena|volume=49|issue=1–2|pages=25–40|doi=10.1016/S0341-8162(02)00015-2|bibcode=2002Caten..49...25M }}</ref>

Kaolinite clay occurs in abundance in [[soil]]s that have formed from the chemical [[weathering]] of rocks in hot, moist [[climate]]s; for example in [[tropical rainforest]] areas. Comparing soils along a gradient towards progressively cooler or drier climates, the proportion of kaolinite decreases, while the proportion of other clay minerals such as [[illite]] (in cooler climates) or [[smectite]] (in drier climates) increases. Such climatically related differences in clay mineral content are often used to infer changes in climates in the geological past, where ancient soils have been buried and preserved.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2000-02-01|title=Unraveling climatic changes from intraprofile variation in oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of goethite and kaolinite in laterites: an integrated study from Yaou, French Guiana|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703799002999|journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta|language=en|volume=64|issue=3|pages=409–426|doi=10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00299-9|issn=0016-7037|last1=Girard|first1=Jean-Pierre|last2=Freyssinet|first2=Philippe|last3=Chazot|first3=Gilles|bibcode=2000GeCoA..64..409G}}</ref>

[[File:China Clay Silos near Par - geograph.org.uk - 30198.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A kaolin processing plant]]
In the ''[[National Institute for Agronomic Study of the Belgian Congo|Institut National pour l'Étude Agronomique au Congo Belge]]'' (INEAC) classification system, soils in which the clay fraction is predominantly kaolinite are called ''kaolisol'' (from kaolin and soil).<ref>{{cite book|title=Tropical soils and soil survey|last=Young|first=Anthony|publisher=CUP Archive|year=1980|isbn=9780521297684|series=Cambridge Geographical Studies|volume=9|pages=132|name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

In the United States, the main kaolin deposits are found in central [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], on a stretch of the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line]] between [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]] and [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]]. This area of thirteen counties is called the "white gold" belt; [[Sandersville, Georgia|Sandersville]] is known as the "Kaolin Capital of the World" due to its abundance of kaolin.<ref name="sandersville-ga">{{cite web|url=http://www.sandersville.net/KaolinCapitaloftheWorld.cfm|title=Kaolin Capital of the World|website=City of Sandersville, GA|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="bitter-southerner">{{cite web|url=http://bittersoutherner.com/eat-white-dirt/|title=Making Peace With the Age-Old Practice of Eating White Dirt|last=Reece C|website=The Bitter Southerner|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Smothers |first1=Ronald |title=White George clay turns into cash |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/12/us/white-georgia-clay-turns-into-cash.html |access-date=19 January 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=12 December 1987}}</ref> In the late 1800s, an active kaolin surface-mining industry existed in the extreme southeast corner of Pennsylvania, near the towns of [[Landenberg, Pennsylvania|Landenberg]] and [[Kaolin, Pennsylvania|Kaolin]], and in what is present-day White Clay Creek Preserve. The product was brought by train to [[Newark, Delaware]], on the [[Pomeroy and Newark Railroad|Newark-Pomeroy]] line, along which can still be seen many open-pit clay mines. The deposits were formed between the late [[Cretaceous]] and early [[Paleogene]], about 100 to 45 million years ago, in sediments derived from weathered [[Igneous rock|igneous]] and metakaolin rocks.<ref name="Schroeder-2018" /> Kaolin production in the United States during 2011 was 5.5 million tons.<ref>{{cite tech report|last=Virta R|title=Mineral Commodity Summaries|institution=U.S. Geological Survey|pages=44–45|year=2012|url=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/clays/mcs-2012-clays.pdf}}</ref>
[[File:Buell Dryer.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A [[Buell dryer]] in the UK, which is used to dry processed kaolin]]
During the [[Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum]] sediments deposited in the [[Espluga Freda]] area of [[Spain]] were enriched with kaolinite from a [[detrital]] source due to [[denudation]].<ref>{{cite journal|display-authors=3|vauthors=Adatte T, Khozyem H, Spangenberg JE, Samant B, Keller G|year=2014|title=Response of terrestrial environment to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), new insights from India and NE Spain|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263430375|journal=Rendiconti Online della Società Geologica Italiana|volume=31|pages=5–6|doi=10.3301/ROL.2014.17}}</ref>