Diatomaceous Silica in Environmental Applications: A Case Study from the Lacustrine Deposit of Limnos Island, Aegean Sea, Greece

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript Minerals-1658144 “Diatomaceous Silica in Environmental Applications. A Case Study from the Lacustrine Deposit of Limnos Island, Aegean Sea, Greece” contains the data about the mineralogical, structural, chemical and physical properties of the diatomaceous silica. The purpose of the research corresponds to modern scientific challenges. This article can be used around the mineral industry. However, the manuscript contains many critical shortcomings and notes. Results raise a few comments and are not sufficiently presented. This paper deserves to be published after extended major revision. After that, I think that the manuscript would be a valuable contribution to the Minerals.

Major comments.

1. There is no Discussion section. A discussion of the obtained results and comparison with world studies is required. As such, this manuscript is only local and has no basis for publication in Minerals until major improvement. Nineteen references used indicate a weak analysis of the results obtained by the authors in terms of significance for the world scientific community.
2. Introduction has not been completed. The section should be substantially improved for a wide range of researchers. The author should show the significance of research for the world scientific community. What is the novelty of the topic or research methodology? What is the current state of the world's research on diatomite.
3. Sentences in Introduction A should be moved to Material and Methods.
4. The abstract should be expanded according to the obtained results. Add key discussions and conclusions.
5. There is no detailed description of SEM-EDS parameters. Section 2.2 should be improved.
6. There is no detailed description of BET. It is recommended to expand section 2.4.
7. The results and their discussion should be separated, which will improve the perception of the manuscript by a wide range of readers. Some points in the “Results” section are discussions, such as A.
8. Figure 2 needs to be improved. Represent XRD patterns as vector graphics.
9. Use original subsection titles. Sections 2.1 and 3.1, 2.2 and 3.2, 2.3. and 3.3, 2.4 and 3.4 have the same names. I can suggest, for example, the following subsection titles: 3.1. Mineralogical composition, 3.2. Structure and morphology of diatomite, 3.3. Major oxides, 3.4. Physical properties.

Minor comments

10. The last sentence of the abstract. Add a dot.
11. Figure 1. The figure should be changed to digital quality. The titles on the overview diagram in the upper left corner are not visible. The legend must be added. What do the different colors and lines mean? Specify where the study area is in the legend or on the diagram. The location of the investigated drill holes must be shown on the scheme.
12. There are not manufacturers, cities, and countries of manufacture for each analytical instrument and equipment.
13. Figures 3 and 4 should be merged and improved. It is recommended to improve the quality of SEM images. Use the delicate SEM parameters.
14. Table 2. Round the values to the decimal point.
15. Table 3 should be placed after the first mention of the table in the text.
16. There are many technical errors in the text. Careful and detailed proofreading is required.

Author Response

We are grateful to the reviewer 1 for her/him time and constructive comments on our manuscript. We have been able to response and accept most of the suggestions provided by the reviewer 1. More over: 

Major comments

1. The discussion section has been added and enriched with remarkable references.
2. The introduction section enriched with information and references about the structure, formation and different types of diatomites. We added the countries that diatomite formations are existing, as long as we give some statistical information about the worldwide diatomite production. Also, in the introduction section mentioned the locations in Greece where diatomite is founded. Finally, we are referring to the different uses and properties of the examined material.
3. Accepted and sentences in Introduction moved to Material and Methods.
4. Accepted and abstract corrected.
5. Accepted and description of SEM-EDS parameters are added.
6. Accepted and description of BET method is added.
7. We believe that results and discussion section, in their revised version, were improved and should remain together.
8. Accepted, figure 2 saved as tiff file.
9. Accepted, subtitles numbering is the same in Materials and Methods section and in Results and Discussion section.

Minor comments

10. Accepted and corrected
11. Figure 1 is improved and modified. A legend is added.
12. Accepted and manufacturers, cities, and countries of manufacture for each analytical instrument and equipment are added.
13. Figures 3 and 4 are the original SEM pictures and cannot be improved.
14. Chemical analysis of major elements are usually presented with 2 decimal points. We believe that Table 2 should remain in the present form.
15. Accepted and Table 3 placed after first mention.
16. We have made the appropriate corrections to eliminate language errors.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments (from the uploaded   "minerals-1658144-peer-review-jb.pdf")

1. Caption Figure 1. Explanation of labels for lithological units are needed in figure caption, as well as position of studied samples in the map.
2. Item 2.3. Last paragraph. Please, indicate the source of used standards (USGS, NIST,...)

3 Item 2.4. First paragraph. Please,  indicate the used equipment , and provide the bibliographical reference of the BET method.

4. Item 2.4. Last paragraph. Reference of the used standard procedure is needed.Note also that no surface area data are provided in the results item.
5. Iem 3.1.Line 3 Perhaps is better to say :Smectites are the main clay minerals present (very good matching of the montmorillonte ICDD file 13-0135) as it can be seen in Figure 2. An additional comment would be convenient to exclude the presence of vermiculite clay, to be included in caption of Figure 2 or in the text. It is needed to indicate if smectite chracterizatio was tested by X-Ray powder diffraction data from glycolated samples by the usual methods in clay mineralogy (see for example :USGS OFR01-041: Clay Mineral Identification Flow Diagram, from https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/of01-041 ).

6. Caption Table 1. Please include column indicative of both types of sudied rocks
7. Caption Table 2. Please include a column indicative of both types of studied rocks.
8. Item 3.4. Last paragraph. Better to say : The insulation performance.
9. Item 4. Before last line. Probably it coud be added: ", because of the  low density (related to high porosity ) in green and fired blocks." A convenient reference from the bibliography  (1?,2?) must be included at the end of this line.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We are grateful to the reviewer 2 for him/her time and constructive comments on our manuscript. We have been able to response and accept most of the suggestions provided by the reviewer 2. More specific:

1. Accepted, Figure 1 is improved and modified. A legend is added.
2. Accepted and corrected. The source of the used standards was added.
3. Accepted and corrected. The used equipment was added, and we provide a bibliographical reference of the BET method.
4. Accepted and corrected. Reference of the used standard procedure is needed. Also, values of specific surface area are provided.
5. We re-write the results and discussion of the section 3.1.
6. Accepted and corrected. A column in Table 1 indicating the type of studied rock is included.
7. Accepted and corrected. A column in Table 2 indicating the type of studied rock is included.
8. We re-write the results and discussion of the section 3.4.
9. We re-write the results and discussion of the section 3.4.

Reviewer 3 Report

Manuscript Number:  minerals-1658144

Authors: Evangelos Stefanou, Nikolaos Kantiranis*, Konstantinos Chatzicharalambous, Christina Mytiglaki, Michael Stamatakis, George Georgiadis

Entitled: Diatomaceous Silica in Environmental Applications. A Case Study from
the Lacustrine Deposit of Limnos Island, Aegean Sea, Greece.

Journal: Minerals

 

General comments

 

The paper is very interesting and represents significant research on the mineralogical composition and properties of specific diatomites. I have no serious objections, I only advise the authors that it would be interesting to present the radiological characteristics of the analysed samples.

 

I recommend publication of this paper in the present form.

 

 

Author Response

We are grateful to the reviewer 3 for the positive view of our manuscript. Reviewer 3 has raised an important point here. It would have been interesting to explore this aspect. Although, we believe that it‘s contribution to the present work would be slight. However, radiological characteristics of the analysed samples could be addressed in a future work.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

All notes have been considered. This paper deserves to be published in present form.

Author Response

We thank Reviewer 1 for his/her constructive cooperation.