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Calcium and magnesium hydroxide precipitation from alkaline groundwaters in Oman, and their significance to the process of serpentinization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Colin Neal
Affiliation:
Institute of Hydrology, Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxon. OX10 8BB
Gordon Stanger
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA

Abstract

The occurrence and genesis of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 deposits associated with hyperalkaline groundwater from partly serpentinized ultramafic rocks in Northern Oman is reported. Two types of Ca(OH)2 deposit are differentiated; crystalline portlandite formed by the evaporation of Ca2+-2OH spring waters, and a form of amorphous gel, not previously known in nature. The latter is a product of present-day low-temperature serpentinization. Mg(OH)2 (brucite) in both holocrystalline and gel forms is produced by mixing of Mg2+−2H surface waters with a Ca2+-2OH groundwater in both surface and groundwater environments. These results indicate that significant differences exist between the processes of medium- and low-temperature brucite generation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1984

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