Advances in Serpentinization

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 June 2024 | Viewed by 1299

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Interests: water-rock reactions; ultramafic rock systems; mineralogy; biogeochemistry; astrobiology

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Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
Interests: geomicrobiology; extreme environments; astrobiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Serpentinization occurs essentially and ubiquitously in ultramafic systems under sufficient geochemical conditions. This water–rock reaction generates complex mineral records of alteration with great potential to inform petrological and geochemical evolution through time. The implications for sustaining a deep, potentially polyextreme biosphere are significant. We invite submissions ranging from mineralogical interpretations in serpentinization-influenced settings, biogeochemical data sets collected from diverse ultramafic-hosted systems, and experimental and modeling results for related questions.

Dr. Dawn Cardace
Dr. D'Arcy Meyer-Dombard
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • serpentinization
  • geochemistry
  • mineralogy
  • petrology
  • water–rock interactions
  • habitability
  • gas flux

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 3448 KiB  
Article
The Role of Sulfuric Acid, Abiotic–Organic Acids, and Biotic Acids on Serpentinite Dissolution and Trace Metal Release
by Agnes R. Taylor, Amanda Albright Olsen, Elisabeth M. Hausrath, Brian J. Olsen and Dawn Cardace
Minerals 2024, 14(3), 256; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14030256 - 28 Feb 2024
Viewed by 907
Abstract
Organic acids produced by biota have been shown to accelerate the dissolution of minerals, possibly creating biosignatures in either reacting solutions or the solid materials. We tested aqueous alteration of serpentinite in three groups of solutions: inorganic acids, organic acids created through abiotic [...] Read more.
Organic acids produced by biota have been shown to accelerate the dissolution of minerals, possibly creating biosignatures in either reacting solutions or the solid materials. We tested aqueous alteration of serpentinite in three groups of solutions: inorganic acids, organic acids created through abiotic processes (termed “abiotic–organics”), and organic acids created through biotic processes (termed “biotic acids”) over a range of temperatures relevant to conditions on Mars and Europa. A total of 48 batch reactor experiments were carried out at 0 °C, 22 °C, and 62 °C in 16 different acids at pH 2.6 over 28 days. Additional experiments were conducted in sulfuric acid solutions to assess aqueous alteration in sulfate-rich environments. These results show that biotic acids accelerate serpentinite dissolution compared to the control inorganic acid, whereas abiotic–organic acids have little or no effect. Sulfuric acid enhances serpentinite dissolution over nitric acid. Secondary precipitates found in the presence of biotic acids were consistently enhanced in Mn, Ti, and W. We propose that these preferentially released elements and secondary minerals may be potential biosignatures. We also show that the release of the rock-forming elements Mg and Si is correlated with stability constants for the metal–acid aqueous complex, providing a possible mechanistic interpretation of the observed results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Serpentinization)
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