"Tracking Subsurface Active Weathering Processes in Serpentinite" by Masako Tominaga, Estefania Ortiz et al.
 

Tracking Subsurface Active Weathering Processes in Serpentinite

Document Type

Letter to the Editor

Date of Original Version

3-28-2021

Abstract

We conducted a novel study to capture the on-going advancement of mineral weathering within a serpentinite formation by using an integrated approach of multi-scale quantitative rock magnetic analyses and nano-resolution geochemical imaging analyses. We studied a suite of rock samples from the Coast Range Ophiolite Microbial Observatory (CROMO) in California to conduct rock magnetic analyses enabling us to determine character of Fe-bearing minerals and to predict locations of reaction boundaries among various stages of weathering. QEMSCAN® and other electron micro-imagery analyses highlighted microstructural changes in amorphous minerals, and possible changes in porosity and coincides with the iron-enrichment region. This iron enrichment indicates initiation of iron (-oxides) nucleation, resulting in extremely fine gain magnetite formation. This is a newly documented mode of magnetite production in serpentinites and enhances the application of magnetite abundance as a proxy for the degree and extent of water-rock interaction in mantle peridotite and serpentinite.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

48

Issue

6

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