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Title: The dynamic nature of crystal growth in pores

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep33086 · OSTI ID:1325481
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab.; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of Melbourne (Australia). Dept. of Infrastructure Engineering; CSIRO Land and Water, Glen Osmond, SA (Australia); Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. of Physics of the Earth
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division
  4. Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab.
+ Show Author Affiliations

We report that the kinetics of crystal growth in porous media controls a variety of natural processes such as ore genesis and crystallization induced fracturing that can trigger earthquakes and weathering, as well as, sequestration of CO2 and toxic metals into geological formations. Progress on understanding those processes has been limited by experimental difficulties of dynamically studying the reactive surface area and permeability during pore occlusion. Here, we show that these variables cause a time-dependency of barite growth rates in microporous silica. The rate is approximately constant and similar to that observed on free surfaces if fast flow velocities predominate and if the time-dependent reactive surface area is accounted for. As the narrower flow paths clog, local flow velocities decrease, which causes the progressive slowing of growth rates. We conclude that mineral growth in a microporous media can be estimated based on free surface studies when a) the growth rate is normalized to the time-dependent surface area of the growing crystals, and b) the local flow velocities are above the limit at which growth is transport-limited. Lastly, accounting for the dynamic relation between microstructure, flow velocity and growth rate is shown to be crucial towards understanding and predicting precipitation in porous rocks.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); National Science Foundation (NSF); EPSRC; Russell Sage Foundation (RSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; FG02-94ER14466; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1325481
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

Challenging asymmetric cements as indicators of vadose diagenesis: “pseudo-gravitational” cements from the lower Pliensbachian of the Traras Mountains in NW Algeria journal February 2019
U‐Th Dating of Syntectonic Calcite Veins Reveals the Dynamic Nature of Fracture Cementation and Healing in Faults journal November 2019
Deciphering pore-level precipitation mechanisms journal October 2017
New software protocols for enabling laboratory based temporal CT journal September 2018
Calculation of tensorial flow properties on pore level: Exploring the influence of boundary conditions on the permeability of three-dimensional stochastic reconstructions journal November 2019
Hierarchical Optimization: Fast and Robust Multiscale Stochastic Reconstructions with Rescaled Correlation Functions journal December 2018
U-Th Dating of Syntectonic Calcite Veins Reveals the Dynamic Nature of Fracture Cementation and Healing in Faults posted_content May 2020
Deciphering pore-level precipitation mechanisms text January 2017

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37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY