14 DAY TRIAL // A collaboration of German and North American researchers was recently able to determine the exact process by which water disintegrates rocks, one molecule at a time. The study was supported through the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University.
Using cutting-edge experimental techniques, as well as advanced computer simulations, scientists with the Rice University in the US, and the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) at the University of Bremen, in Germany, were able to determine how boundary layers between water and rocks with crystalline structures form and develop.
In a paper published in the November 28 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, the group reveals that the model developed in this new study is many times more effective when it comes to predicting how rocks will disintegrate in the presence of water than any other models out there today.
“We need to gain a better understanding of dissolution mechanisms to better predict the fate of certain materials, both in nature and in man-made systems,” explains Rice Earth sciences professor Andreas Lüttge, who was the lead investigator of the study, and is also a professor of mineralogy at MARUM.
Discovering how boundary layers behave is a very important aspect related to numerous fields of science and technology, e! Science News reports.