Mineral-fluid reactions in metamorphism and carbon sequestration

该项目将评估矿物流体反应在调节地球深部流体流动和吸收大气中的温室气体二氧化碳方面的作用。地壳内部深部的流体流动可能控制地壳在造山和岩浆作用期间的行为。流体流动对一些金属和高科技工业矿藏的形成也是必不可少的，并影响变形期间的岩石行为(如地震事件)。流体流动的关键控制是矿物反应和岩石变形形成和破坏渗透性通道。同样，矿物反应也有助于从大气中长期封存二氧化碳。一个有希望的应用领域是利用工业废物，如矿山尾矿，捕获和结合数千年来的二氧化碳，从而有助于缓解气候变化问题。 该项目将确定在特定地质环境中创建和破坏渗透通道的机制和速率。这将通过检查不列颠哥伦比亚省和阿曼野外地区的岩石，并开发新的计算机模型来研究地质条件和时间尺度下的流体流动和反应。这些研究将有助于我们从根本上理解流体流动、岩石变形和矿物反应的机械和化学耦合；这些过程在地壳中普遍存在，在成矿和地震事件中尤为重要。 我们还将研究矿基温室气体封存操作的地质类比，以更好地了解矿物流体反应在长时间尺度(数千年)上的控制和后果。研究天然类似物的价值在于，它们使我们能够评估储存的碳的长期稳定性，而且通常还能对在实验室条件下没有观察到的过程产生新的见解。这个项目的重点是了解是什么控制了这种矿物菱镁矿的沉淀，这种菱镁矿在自然界中是在低温下形成的，但到目前为止，在实验室里几乎不可能在室温下复制。借助对天然类似物的研究，我们将寻求加速工业碳汇系统中菱镁矿的形成，以实现更高效、更安全的碳储存。

This project will assess the role of mineral fluid reactions in modulating fluid flow in Earth’s deep crust and in absorbing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fluid flow at depth within Earth's crust may control how the crust behaves during mountain building and magmatism. Fluid flow is also essential for the formation of some metallic and high-tech industrial mineral ore deposits, and influences rock behaviour during deformation (e.g., earthquake events). A critical control on fluid flow is the formation and destruction of permeable pathways by mineral reactions and rock deformation. Likewise, mineral reactions can contribute towards the long term sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One promising area of application is in using industrial waste, such as mine tailings, to capture and bind carbon dioxide for millennia, thus contributing to the mitigation of the climate change problem. This project will determine the mechanisms and rates by which permeable pathways are created and destroyed in specific geologic settings. This will be accomplished by examining rocks from field areas in British Columbia and Oman, and by developing new computer models for fluid flow and reaction at geologic conditions and timescales. These studies will contribute fundamentally to our understanding of the mechanical and chemical coupling of fluid flow, rock deformation, and mineral reaction; processes that are ubiquitous within Earth's crust and are particularly important during ore genesis and seismic events. We will also examine geologic analogues to mine-based greenhouse gas sequestration operations to better understand the controls and consequences of mineral fluid reactions over long time scales (thousands of years). The value of studying natural analogues is that they allow us to assess the long term stability of stored carbon but also typically yield new insights into processes that have not been observed to operate at laboratory conditions. This project will focus on understanding what controls the precipitation of the mineral magnesite, which forms at low temperature in nature but has to date been nigh impossible to replicate in the lab at room temperature. With insights from studying natural analogs, we will seek to accelerate the formation of magnesite in industrial carbon sequestration systems to yield more efficient and safer carbon storage.