Growth and dissolution of the mineral calcite is important for prediction and control of surface and subsurface water quality, calculation of past sea-surface temperatures using paleoenvironmental proxies, and sequestration of contaminants through engineered calcite precipitation. At high concentrations of strontium, calcite growth is known to be inhibited, but the mechanism by which strontium inhibits growth is not well understood. Seeking to better understand this mechanism, atomic force microscopy is used with a flow-through fluid cell to measure real time growth rates of the obtuse and acute monomolecular step orientations on the calcite surface. Growth was measured at two saturation indices as a function of the ratio of the concentrations of aqueous calcium-to-carbonate and varying aqueous strontium concentration. It was found that the amount of strontium required to inhibit growth correlated with the aqueous calcium concentration, but did not correlate with carbonate concentration. This suggests that strontium inhibits attachment of calcium, but not carbonate, during growth. Analytical models of nucleation and propagation of steps are expanded from previous studies to capture multiple saturation indices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/43677 |
| Date | 06 April 2012 |
| Creators | Bracco, Jacquelyn Nicole |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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