Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Preface to first edition
- A note about software
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Modeling overview
- Part I Equilibrium in natural waters
- Part II Reaction processes
- Part III Applied reaction modeling
- 22 Hydrothermal fluids
- 23 Geothermometry
- 24 Evaporation
- 25 Sediment diagenesis
- 26 Kinetics of water–rock interaction
- 27 Weathering
- 28 Oxidation and reduction
- 29 Waste injection wells
- 30 Petroleum reservoirs
- 31 Acid drainage
- 32 Contamination and remediation
- 33 Microbial communities
- Appendix 1 Sources of modeling software
- Appendix 2 Evaluating the HMW activity model
- Appendix 3 Minerals in the LLNL database
- Appendix 4 Nonlinear rate laws
- References
- Index
24 - Evaporation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Preface to first edition
- A note about software
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Modeling overview
- Part I Equilibrium in natural waters
- Part II Reaction processes
- Part III Applied reaction modeling
- 22 Hydrothermal fluids
- 23 Geothermometry
- 24 Evaporation
- 25 Sediment diagenesis
- 26 Kinetics of water–rock interaction
- 27 Weathering
- 28 Oxidation and reduction
- 29 Waste injection wells
- 30 Petroleum reservoirs
- 31 Acid drainage
- 32 Contamination and remediation
- 33 Microbial communities
- Appendix 1 Sources of modeling software
- Appendix 2 Evaluating the HMW activity model
- Appendix 3 Minerals in the LLNL database
- Appendix 4 Nonlinear rate laws
- References
- Index
Summary
The process of evaporation, including transpiration (evaporation from plants), returns to the atmosphere more than half of the water reaching the Earth's land surface; thus, it plays an important role in controlling the chemistry of surface water and groundwater, especially in relatively arid climates. Geochemists study the evaporation process to understand the evolution of water in desert playas and lakes as well as the origins of evaporite deposits. They also investigate environmental aspects of evaporation (e.g., Appelo and Postma, 1993), such as its effects on the chemistry of rainfall and, in areas where crops are irrigated, the quality of groundwater and runoff.
To model the chemical effects of evaporation, we construct a reaction path in which H2O is removed from a solution, thereby progressively concentrating the solutes. We also must account in the model for the exchange of gases such as CO2 and O2 between fluid and atmosphere. In this chapter we construct simulations of this sort, modeling the chemical evolution of water from saline alkaline lakes and the reactions that occur as seawater evaporates to desiccation.
Springs and saline lakes of the Sierra Nevada
We choose as a first example the evaporation of spring water from the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and Nevada, USA, as modeled by Garrels and Mackenzie (1967). Their hand calculation, the first reaction path traced in geochemistry (see Chapter 1), provided the inspiration for Helgeson's (1968 and later) development of computerized methods for reaction modeling.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Geochemical and Biogeochemical Reaction Modeling , pp. 357 - 372Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007