Synopsis
Mineral Dissolution Kinetics: New Perspectives is, at its core, a search for a universal rate equation for mineral dissolutions. It documents and details the journey undertaken by its authors, appealing not only to specialists and experts in related fields but also to novice readers seeking to learn more about this unique subject. The book reveals how the compounding of many otherwise subtle misunderstandings has resulted in the under-development of fundamental concepts in mineral dissolution kinetics, despite its long history of study. By examining a wide cross-section of existing studies, it uncovers these misunderstandings and forges a new way forward. Although mineral dissolution kinetics has been immensely important in explaining continental weathering, landform development, and the maintenance of water supplies for agricultural and human use, it remains a critically undervalued field of chemistry. It is also foundational to our understanding of the marine environment and serves as an essential tool in the long-term storage of CO2 and radionuclide waste. More recently, it has helped address the human-induced rise in tropospheric CO2, a key cause of global warming and ocean acidification. Complex subjects such as the hydrodynamics of dissolution, the thermodynamics of the aqueous carbonate system, and central omissions at the very core of homogeneous kinetics are explained clearly and simply, while still remaining at the cutting edge of the field.
About the Authors
Professor Victor Truesdale is a retired yet still active researcher with Oxford-Brookes University. His history is in oceanography, hydrology, management training, and development, alongside teaching environmental sciences in university. His chemistry studies cover the analysis of silicate, iodine, and micro-nutrients in seawater, fisheries oceanography in the Western Indian Ocean, and catchment hydro-chemistry. Chemical kinetics has been a linking thread across many of these studies, and since 2010 his work has been focused upon a solution-approach to mineral dissolution kinetics.
Dr Jim Greenwood is a biological and chemical oceanographer within the Coastal Ocean Science program of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Environment Research Unit. His scientific expertise is in ocean biogeochemical dynamics, particularly nutrient cycling, phytoplankton productivity, marine sediment chemistry, carbonate and silica dissolution, the seawater CO2 system, deoxygenation of coastal water, and marine connectivity. He has experience at sea, in the laboratory, and with applying numerical ocean models.
Dr Tim Southern is Technical Director of Geophysical Survey Technologies Ltd. He worked as an industrial physical chemist for some years before specialising in Electron and X-ray beam technology, which led to a PhD at the University of Rennes. He has had a varied research career encompassing homogeneous and biphasic catalysis on coal and heavy oil conversion technologies, and industrial and domestic effluent treatment, which involved the automation of chemical reactors, the collection of experimental data, and the analysis of kinetic data. A career change led to Tim applying physical science rigour to archaeology, which brought him to where he is.
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