Honors Projects

Abstract

The role of substrate on the precipitation of quartz from solution is a confused subject based on past research. The two types of surfaces examined in this project, weathered surfaces and freshly fractured surfaces, may or may not influence the rate of precipitation of quartz from aqueous solution. Precipitation rates on these surfaces are compared via 'sandwich' type experiments, where both naturally weathered quartz grains and freshly fractured synthetic quartz grains are placed in weld-sealed gold tubes, separated by a cement source of amorphous silica. The experiments were run at 450 degrees Celsius and about 150 MPa for varying amounts of time. Three experiments were performed under these conditions, run for one week, two weeks, and four weeks. The samples were then removed, embedded in epoxy, polished, and images were taken using cathodoluminescence. The amounts of cement were then found using point counting and compared between the two different surfaces and between different run times. In this way, the effect of substrate on cementation may be examined.

Department

Geology

Major

Geology

First Advisor

John Farver

First Advisor Department

Geology

Second Advisor

Charles Onasch

Second Advisor Department

Geology

Publication Date

Spring 5-4-2015

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Geology Commons

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