Abstract
Material balance and equilibrium relations between H2O-rich fluids and sparingly soluble minerals are important for the understanding of chemical processes operative at the earths surface and within the earths crust. These two aspects of any chemical system are subject to graphical analysis, and a technique is devised to allow visual presentation of congruent and incongruent reactions between solutions and sparingly soluble silicate minerals in multi-component systems. The method also illustrates the changes in a solutions' composition resulting from both congruent and incongruent interactions with solids. The technique is particularly useful when interpreting reactions occurring during dissolution and precipitation experiments and is also valuable when interpreting the chemical history of ground waters and surface waters.
Analysis of the system MgO-SiO2-H2O-HCl demonstrates that, under near-surface conditions, brucite and serpentine-group minerals dissolve congruently in high pH (basic) solutions while talc dissolves congruently in moderately basic to acidic solutions. In the system Na2O-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-HCl, gibbsite dissolves congruently in moderately acidic to highly basic solutions and kaolinite and siliceous clay minerals dissolve congruently only in acidic solutions.
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Nesbitt, H.W. Graphical representation of material balance and equilibrium relations for minerals sparingly soluble in H2O. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 66, 367–374 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403421
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403421