Pseudomorphic Replacement of Mg–Ca Carbonates after Gypsum and Anhydrite

Abstract

In this paper, we present a comparative study of the pseudomorphic carbonatation of gypsum and anhydrite single crystals in Mg-bearing aqueous solutions at room temperature. We have found that carbonatation of gypsum an anhydrite occurs via a similar coupled dissolution–crystallization mechanism. However, whereas pseudomorphization of anhydrite precisely preserves the external form and dimension of the initial crystals, pseudomorphs after gypsum are less perfect and the shape and volume of the original crystals are partially lost. Furthermore, the mineralogical compositions of the pseudomorphs after anhydrite and gypsum are different, because gypsum is replaced by relatively large calcite crystals, while anhydrite pseudomorphs consist of aggregates of calcite and aragonite. Such textural and compositional differences can be clearly related to the length scale of the coupling between dissolution and crystallization at the replacement fronts. In situ atomic force microscopy observations of the early stages ...