Mineral Dissolution Kinetics: New Perspectives

Mineral dissolution kinetics is a critically undervalued field of chemistry. It has helped explain continental weathering and landform development, informed how we maintain water supplies for agricultural and human use, been foundational to our understanding of the formation and operation of the marine environment, and served as an essential tool in the long-term storage of CO2 and radio-nuclide waste. In recent years, mineral dissolution kinetics have also become immensely important in solving the problem of the human-induced rise in tropospheric CO2, a key cause of global warming and ocean acidification.Even though mineral dissolution kinetics has long been a subject of study, unlike the progress made with other chemical systems, its fundamentals are under-developed. Mineral Dissolution Kinetics reveals how the compounding of many otherwise subtle misunderstandings has resulted in this inadequacy. It trawls through a wide cross-section of existing studies to reveal these misunderstandings and forge a new way forward. Complex subjects such as the hydrodynamics of dissolution, the thermodynamics of the aqueous carbonate system, and central omissions at the very core of homogenous kinetics are all explained clearly and simply, while still remaining at the cutting edge of the field.At its core, this book is a search for a universal rate equation for mineral dissolutions. It documents and details the journey which its authors have undertaken, and as such will appeal greatly not only to specialists and experts in all related fields, but also to novice readers seeking to learn more about this unique subject.