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Effects of Salt Precipitation in the Topmost Soil Layer Investigated by NMR

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Abstract

The drying of highly concentrated aqueous salt solutions in sand and soil has been investigated by one-dimensional spatially resolved low-field relaxation measurements of 1H nuclei in water as well as high-field MRI of 1H and 23Na nuclei of water and sodium ions. Water evaporates until the solutions in the solid matrix reach saturation conditions, when salt begins to crystallize. Depending on salt type and conditions, such as actual soil water content and air humidity, this crystallization can occur above (efflorescent) or below (subflorescent) the soil surface. Both effects occur in nature and affect the evaporation behavior of water. The formation of salt precipitate domains is demonstrated by MRI, where the precipitate domains remain penetrable to water. Complete drying is achieved in the top 2 mm of soil with the exception of strongly hygroscopic perchlorates which maintain a constant amount of liquid water under ambient laboratory conditions and dry air. This situation is considered similar to the co-existence of perchlorates and water in strongly eutectic mixtures on Mars.

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Data Availability

The data sets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

AP and SH-P are grateful to Uri Nachshon, Volcani Institute, Israel, for helpful discussion of precipitation phenomena, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), SFB1313, IP05 for financial support. RW, KL, CM and SS would like to thank Kerstin Geyer for assistance with the sample preparation.

Funding

DFG, SFB 1313.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FG Technische Physik II/Polymerphysik, Technische Universität Ilmenau, 98684, Ilmenau, Germany

    Rieke Wieboldt, Kevin Lindt, Carlos Mattea & Siegfried Stapf

  2. FZ Jülich, IBG-3, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Andreas Pohlmeier

  3. University Stuttgart, MPA, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Sabina Haber-Pohlmeier

Authors
  1. Rieke Wieboldt
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  2. Kevin Lindt
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  3. Andreas Pohlmeier
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  4. Carlos Mattea
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  6. Sabina Haber-Pohlmeier
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Contributions

Conceptualization: CM, SHP. Data curation, formal analysis: RW, CM, SHP. Funding acquisition: SS, SHP, AP. Investigation: RW (lead), CM, SHP. Methodology, project administration: SS, AP, SHP. Resources: SS, AP, SHP. Software: CM. Supervision: CM, KL. Validation: KL. Visualization: RW, CM, AP. Writing—original draft: SS, AP, SHP. Writing—review and editing: CM, KL, SHP.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Siegfried Stapf.

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Wieboldt, R., Lindt, K., Pohlmeier, A. et al. Effects of Salt Precipitation in the Topmost Soil Layer Investigated by NMR. Appl Magn Reson 54, 1607–1631 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00723-023-01568-1

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