Element Migration and Isotope Fractionation during Mineral Weathering
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2022) | Viewed by 2293
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Silicate weathering can shape the Earth's surface, regulate global carbon cycles and determine nutrient supply to ecosystems, and is also a key process in controlling Earth's climate by regulating carbon dioxide levels.
Silicate weathering, on the other hand, involves the incongruent dissolution of primary minerals and precipitation of secondary minerals, during which element migration and isotope fractionation take place. Therefore, studying the element migration and isotope fractionation behaviors during mineral weathering would be conducive to revealing the relationship between silicate weathering and global cycles of carbon and other elements.
The relative stability of minerals to weathering may be related to their degree of basicity, degree of linkage of the tetrahedrons, relative number of alumina and silica tetrahedrons and other factors that result in a lowering of the basicity of the mineral and a destruction of bonds. Some minerals, such as biotite and plagioclase, are easily altered in the early stage of weathering. Meanwhile, others, like quartz, are virtually unaffected.
During chemical weathering, soluble elements (e.g., Li, Na, Mg and Ca) are released during mineral dissolution, while the general conservative elements (e.g., Fe, Ti, Zr, Hf, Th) tend to incorporate into secondary minerals, where significant isotope fractionation (e.g., Li, Mg, K, Ti, Rb, Mo) has been observed. Meanwhile, the formation of secondary minerals undergoes adsorption and desorption processes, and the bond energy and properties of minerals are thus changed, and isotope fractionation occurs. Significant element migration and isotope fractionation in the above processes make it possible to use element and isotope proxies to trace mineral weathering.
This Special Issue aims to contribute to the disclosure of all research involving element migration and isotope fractionation during mineral weathering, with the aim of tracing continental chemical weathering.
Dr. Jinlong Ma
Guest Editor
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
- mineral weathering
- element mobilization
- isotope fractionation
- climate change
