Understanding in detail the ion partitioning in mineralwater interactions is of fundamental importance to geochemical studies and ultimately to society. The solid-solution properties of minerals are a significant part of the complexity, and also the importance, of these ion-partitioning reactions.
Speleothems (mineral deposits that formed in caves) are currently giving us some of the most exciting insights into environments and climates during the Pleistocene ice ages and the subsequent Holocene rise of civilizations. The book applies system science to Quaternary environments in a new and rigorous way and gives holistic explanations the relations between the properties of speleothems and the climatic and cave setting in which they are found. It is designed as the ideal companion to someone embarking on speleothem research and, since the underlying science is very broad, it will also be invaluable to a wide variety of others. Students and professional scientists interested in carbonate rocks, karst hydrogeology, climatology, aqueous geochemistry, carbonate geochemistry and the calibration of climatic proxies will find up-to-date reviews of these topics here. The book will also be valuable to Quaternary scientists who, up to now, have lacked a thorough overview of these important archives. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/fairchild/speleothem.
Molecular processes in nature affect human health, the availability of resources and the Earth’s climate. Molecular modelling is a powerful and versatile toolbox that complements experimental data and provides insights where direct observation is not currently possible. Molecular Modeling of Geochemical Reactions: An Introduction applies computational chemistry to geochemical problems. Chapters focus on geochemical applications in aqueous, petroleum, organic, environmental, bio- and isotope geochemistry, covering the fundamental theory, practical guidance on applying techniques, and extensive literature reviews in numerous geochemical sub-disciplines. Topics covered include: • Theory and Methods of Computational Chemistry • Force Field Application and Development • Computational Spectroscopy • Thermodynamics • Structure Determination • Geochemical Kinetics This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers looking to understand geochemical processes on a molecular level. Novice practitioners of molecular modelling, experienced computational chemists, and experimentalists seeking to understand this field will all find information and knowledge of use in their research.
The Earth system consists of subsystems that include the atmosphere, hydrosphere (water), geosphere (rocks, minerals), biosphere, and humans. In order to understand these subsystems and their interactions, it is essential to clarify the mass transfer mechanism, geochemical cycle, and influence of human activity on the natural environment. This book presents fundamental theories (thermodynamics, kinetics, mass balance model, coupling models such as the kinetics-fluid flow model, the box model, and others) concerning mechanisms in weathering, formation of hydrothermal ore deposits, hydrothermal alteration, formation of groundwater quality, and the seawater system. The interaction between fluids (atmosphere, water) and solid phases (rocks, minerals) occurs both in low-temperature and also in high-temperature systems. This book considers the complex low-temperature cycle with the high-temperature cycle, a combination that has not been dealt with in previous books concerning Earth systems. Humanity is a small part of the biosphere; however, human activities greatly influence Earth’s surface environments (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, soils, rocks). Thus, the influences of humans on other subsystems, particularly mass transfer in the deep underground geologic environment composed of host rocks and groundwater, are discussed in relation to high-level nuclear waste geologic disposal and CO2 underground sequestration—topics that have not been included in other books on environmental science.
Reactions at mineral surfaces are central to all geochemical processes. As minerals comprise the rocks of the Earth, the processes occurring at the mineral–aqueous fluid interface control the evolution of the rocks and hence the structure of the crust of the Earth during processes such as metamorphism, metasomatism, and weathering. In recent years focus has been concentrated on mineral surface reactions made possible through the development of advanced analytical methods such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), advanced electron microscopies (SEM and TEM), phase shift interferometry, confocal Raman spectroscopy, and advanced synchrotron-based applications, to enable mineral surfaces to be imaged and analyzed at the nanoscale. Experiments are increasingly complemented by molecular simulations to confirm or predict the results of these studies. This has enabled new and exciting possibilities to elucidate the mechanisms that govern mineral–fluid reactions. In this Special Issue, “Mineral Surface Reactions at the Nanoscale”, we present 12 contributions that highlight the role and importance of mineral surfaces in varying fields of research.
In a sense, all mineralogy is environmental mineralogy. However, the term environmental has come to be employed (particularly in combination with terms such as science, issue or problem) to refer to those systems at or near the surface of the Earth where the geosphere comes into contact with the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. This is, of course, the environment upon which the human race depends for survival and, hence, is now sometimes referred to as the critical zone. Those systems containing minerals that constitute the most important or key environments are considered here: soils, modern sediments, atmospheric aerosols, and the interior or exterior parts of certain micro- and macro-organisms. Particularly important are the roles that minerals play in processes that act over time to control or influence the environment at various scales of observation. Both pure systems and those contaminated as a result of human activity are considered. The objectives for this volume are to help to define the subject of environmental mineralogy, and to provide an initial source of information both for mineralogists and other scientists who wish to understand or work in this field. It was hoped that it might also provide a text for use by those teaching courses in the subject at advanced undergraduate or graduate student level.
Spectroscopic methods such as Raman are used to investigate the structure and dynamics of matter. They are essential for the study of the different types of mineral or organic materials produced at the Earths surface or interior. As a result of technological improvements in gratings, detectors, filters and personal computers in the last decade, many micro-Raman spectrometers have become plug-and-play instruments, very easy to use and available at a lower cost than the early Raman microprobes. Thus, many laboratories in Earth Sciences and Cultural Heritage are equipped with these new spectrometers. Commercial, portable Raman spectrometers working in the field have also contributed to the spread of Raman spectroscopy. Poor levels of education in terms of Raman spectroscopy in undergraduate courses in Earth Sciences make it difficult for individuals to obtain information of the highest quality relevant to Earth sciences and Cultural Heritage. This volume is, therefore, timely. Four main topics are addressed: Theory; Methodology, including the instrumentation; Experimental aspects; and Application.
This volume of the EMU Notes in Mineralogy is one of the outcomes of a school in planetary mineralogy that was held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014. The school was inspired by the recent advances in our understanding of the nature and evolution of our Solar System that have come from the missions to study and sample asteroids and comets, and the very successful Mars orbiters and landers. At the same time our horizons have expanded greatly with the discovery of extrasolar protoplanetary disks, planets and planetary systems by space telescopes. The continued success of such telescopic and robotic exploration requires a supply of highly skilled people and so one of the goals of the Glasgow school was to help build a community of early-career planetary scientists and space engineers.
The editors have gathered in this book, reviews of past and current studies of mineral groups that have played important roles in geology, environmental science and health science. The various chapters cover the application of TEM and related techniques to: mineral groups in which TEM investigations have been extensive and crucial to the understanding of their mineralogy, namely pyriboles, serpentines, clays, micas and other metamorphic phyllosilicates, oxides and oxyhydroxides, sulfides and carbonates. Some research fields for which TEM is particularly suitable and which have produced significant advances, in particular, are inclusions and traces, extraterrestrial material, deformation processes, non-stoichiometry and superstructures, and biominerals. Nowadays, we are witnessing the push for the improvement of detectors for imaging (direct detection of electrons) and X-rays (silicon drift detectors and annular high solid-angle of collection detectors), the development of new support materials (e.g. graphene) and liquid cells for TEMs. Most of these new technologies have not yet been applied to mineralogical problems but we hope they will be in the near future.
The properties of matter at extreme length scales can differ markedly from those at length scales accessible to human observation. Nanogeoscience is described here: analytical techniques ranging from atomic force microscopy, nanoscale SIMS, TEM and EELS, to recent developments in nano-scale resolution in synchrotron radiation.
