The surface chemistry of dissolving labradorite feldspar
- Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (USA)
Elastic recoil detection (ERD) analysis was used in conjunction with Rutherford backscattering (RBS) analysis to determine depth profiles of hydrogen, silicon, aluminum and calcium in labradorite crystals reacted under various pH conditions. The inventory of hydrogen in the mineral is strongly affected by solution pH. Hydrogen extensively infiltrates the mineral during reaction for 264 hours with solutions in the pH range 1-3. Infiltration is accompanied by extensive removal of sodium, calcium and aluminum from the mineral. This incongruent reaction proceeds to several hundreds of angstroms of depth and produces a silicon-rich surface which is amorphous to electron diffraction. The amount of hydrogen in the reacted layer is much less than is predicted from knowledge of the quantity of cations leached from the feldspar. These low inventories of hydrogen suggest that hydrogen-bearing groups in the reacted layer repolymermize subsequent to ion exchange and depolymerization reactions. This repolymerization eliminates hydrogen from the layer. At higher pH conditions (pH > 5), hydrogen inventories in the crystals decrease with time relative to an unreacted reference crystal. Hydrogen does not infiltrate beyond the first few unit cells of feldspar. Thus, dissolution in slightly acid, near-neutral, and basic solutions proceeds at the immediate surface of the feldspar. Within the limit of the RBS technique, there is no evidence for incongruent dissolution at these conditions.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 5097588
- Journal Information:
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA), Journal Name: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA) Vol. 53:4; ISSN GCACA; ISSN 0016-7037
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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