THERMODYNAMICS AND KINETICS OF WATER-ROCK INTERACTION: Eric H. Oelkers and Jacques Schott, Editors. (2009) Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, vol. 70, 569 pages. ISBN 978-0-939950-84-3. $40 (U.S.). (http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/RIM/Rim70.html)

Abstract

Migration of fluids from one geochemical reservoir to another may bring about disequilibria and drive reactions that ultimately control the mineralogical and chemical composition of the Earth’s crust and surface. Understanding water-rock interaction is mandatory in solving a wide variety of academic and societal problems such as assessing environmental hazards, optimizing oil recovery, identifying and exploiting mineral and ore deposits, and reconstructing past environments and climate. This volume collects contributions from different disciplines within the earth sciences and presents reviews on a wide spectrum of topics that are relevant in understanding water rock systems. It gives a comprehensive account of the well-established fundamentals on the thermodynamics and kinetics of water-rock interaction including basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and also introduces more recent developments, such as the atomistic view on sorption and chemical reactions in water rock systems and reactive transport modeling. The subjects are treated at a relatively advanced level and the volume is not necessarily suitable as an introduction to the topic of water-rock interaction for beginners. It is, however, without doubt a comprehensive source of relevant information and guide to the dedicated literature for advanced students and for researchers in the field. The initial two chapters are concerned with the thermodynamics of water-rock systems. Chapter 1 on “Thermodynamic Databases for Water-Rock Interaction” by Eric H. Oelkers, Pascale Benezeth, and Gleb S. Pokrovski presents basic thermodynamic relations and gives a brief overview of the thermodynamic properties …