Hydrous Components in the Nominally Anhydrous Minerals

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

Many minerals that are nominally anhydrous contain low concentrations of water or hydroxide ion bound in distinct sites in their structure. These components influence the physical and chemical properties of the host phase to an extent far disproportionate to their actual concentrations and constitute a globally significant reservoir of bound water in planet Earth. Research in this award will be directed at characterizing the chemical form and concentrations of these components in natural minerals and related synthetic materials, relating the hydrous components to the physical and chemical properties of the host phases, and investigating the significance of the hydrous components to the terrestrial geologic system. An additional specific focus of the current research period will be the analyses of sub-microscopic inclusions of liquid water that occur in minerals and determining their role in the inventory of total hydrous components in minerals and the conditions under which they form in natural systems. Broader impacts of this project will be in the training of a female graduate student; the development of new methodology for hydrogen isotope analysis that could be used for other applications; support for undergraduates during the summer and in the academic year; continuation of the maintenance of the mineral spectroscopy website http://minerals.gps.caltech.edu.