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Title: Stable-isotope probe of nano-scale mineral-fluid redox interactions

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1164612· OSTI ID:1164612
 [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

The project examined how stable isotopes fractionate at an aqueous/solid interface during electrochemical reduction reactions. Measurements in a wide variety of metal deposition systems including Fe, Zn, Li, Mo, and Cu, have led to observations of large isotope fractionations which strongly vary as a function of rate and temperature. For the Fe, Zn, and Li systems, our electrochemical deposition methods provide the largest single-pass fractionation factors that are observed for these systems. Based on these and other experiments and theory showing and predicting significant and rate-dependent fractionations of isotopes at reacting interfaces, we have developed a simple statistical mechanics framework that predicts the kinetic isotope effect accompanying phase transformations in condensed systems. In addition, we have begun to extend our studies of mineral-fluid redox interactions to high pressures and temperatures in the diamond anvil cell. We performed a series of experiments to determine solubilities of Cu and Ni at elevated pressure and temperature conditions relevant to ore-formation.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
DOE Contract Number:
SC0003799
OSTI ID:
1164612
Report Number(s):
DOE-UCLA-03799
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English