The fate and transport of uranium in contaminated soils and sediments may be affected by adsorption onto the surface of minerals such as montmorillonite. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure ...(EXAFS) spectroscopy has been used to investigate the adsorption of uranyl (UO
2
2+) onto Wyoming montmorillonite. At low pH (∼4) and low ionic strength (10
−3 M), uranyl has an EXAFS spectrum indistinguishable from the aqueous uranyl cation, indicating binding via cation exchange. At near-neutral pH (∼7) and high ionic strength (1 M), the equatorial oxygen shell of uranyl is split, indicating inner-sphere binding to edge sites. Linear-combination fitting of the spectra of samples reacted under conditions where both types of binding are possible reveals that cation exchange at low ionic strengths on SWy-2 may be more important than predicted by past surface complexation models of U(VI) adsorption on related montmorillonites. Analysis of the binding site on the edges of montmorillonite suggests that U(VI) sorbs preferentially to Fe(O,OH)
6 octahedral sites over Al(O,OH)
6 sites. When bound to edge sites, U(VI) occurs as uranyl-carbonato ternary surface complexes in systems equilibrated with atmospheric CO
2. Polymeric surface complexes were not observed under any of the conditions studied. Current surface complexation models of uranyl sorption on clay minerals may need to be reevaluated to account for the possible increased importance of cation exchange reactions at low ionic strengths, the presence of reactive octahedral iron surface sites, and the formation of uranyl-carbonato ternary surface complexes. Considering the adsorption mechanisms observed in this study, future studies of U(VI) transport in the environment should consider how uranium retardation will be affected by changes in key solution parameters, such as pH, ionic strength, exchangeable cation composition, and the presence or absence of CO
2.
Opportunity has investigated in detail rocks on the rim of the Noachian age Endeavour crater, where orbital spectral reflectance signatures indicate the presence of Fe(+3)-rich smectites. The ...signatures are associated with fine-grained, layered rocks containing spherules of diagenetic or impact origin. The layered rocks are overlain by breccias, and both units are cut by calcium sulfate veins precipitated from fluids that circulated after the Endeavour impact. Compositional data for fractures in the layered rocks suggest formation of Al-rich smectites by aqueous leaching. Evidence is thus preserved for water-rock interactions before and after the impact, with aqueous environments of slightly acidic to circum-neutral pH that would have been more favorable for prebiotic chemistry and microorganisms than those recorded by younger sulfate-rich rocks at Meridiani Planum.
A wide range of isoelectric points (IEPs) has been reported in the literature for sapphire-c (α-alumina), also referred to as basal plane, (001) or (0001), single crystals. Interestingly, the ...available data suggest that the variation of IEPs is comparable to the range of IEPs encountered for particles, although single crystals should be much better defined in terms of surface structure. One explanation for the range of IEPs might be the obvious danger of contaminating the small surface areas of single crystal samples while exposing them to comparatively large solution reservoirs. Literature suggests that factors like origin of the sample, sample treatment or the method of investigation all have an influence on the surfaces and it is difficult to clearly separate the respective, individual effects.
In the present study, we investigate cause-effect relationships to better understand the individual effects. The reference IEP of our samples is between 4 and 4.5. High temperature treatment tends to decrease the IEP of sapphire-c as does UV treatment. Increasing the initial miscut (i.e. the divergence from the expected orientation of the crystal) tends to increase the IEP as does plasma cleaning, which can be understood assuming that the surfaces have become less hydrophobic due to the presence of more and/or larger steps with increasing miscut or due to amorphisation of the surface caused by plasma cleaning. Pre-treatment at very high pH caused an increase in the IEP. Surface treatments that led to IEPs different from the stable value of reference samples typically resulted in surfaces that were strongly affected by subsequent exposure to water. The streaming potential data appear to relax to the reference sample behavior after a period of time of water exposure. Combination of the zeta-potential measurements with AFM investigations support the idea that atomically smooth surfaces exhibit lower IEPs, while rougher surfaces (roughness on the order of nanometers) result in higher IEPs compared to reference samples.
Two supplementary investigations resulted in either surprising or ambiguous results. On very rough surfaces (roughness on the order of micrometers) the IEP lowered compared to the reference sample with nanometer-scale roughness and transient behavior of the rough surfaces was observed. Furthermore, differences in the IEP as obtained from streaming potential and static colloid adhesion measurements may suggest that hydrodynamics play a role in streaming potential experiments.
We finally relate surface diffraction data from previous studies to possible interpretations of our electrokinetic data to corroborate the presence of a water film that can explain the low IEP. Calculations show that the surface diffraction data are in line with the presence of a water film, however, they do not allow to unambiguously resolve critical features of this film which might explain the observed surface chemical characteristics like the dangling OH-bond reported in sum frequency generation studies. A broad literature review on properties of related surfaces shows that the presence of such water films could in many cases affect the interfacial properties. Persistence or not of the water film can be crucial. The presence of the water film can in principle affect important processes like ice-nucleation, wetting behavior, electric charging, etc.
Display omitted
•The vast majority of sapphire-c plane samples exhibits isoelectric points between pH3.5 and 4.5.•It is best interpreted by physical adsorption of hydroxide ion in preference to hydronium at the interfacial water film.•Plasma cleaning increases the IEP. UV cleaning and annealing decrease it. All generate surfaces that evolve with time in water.•Different surface treatments cause contradictory spectroscopic sum frequency generation data.•Microscale roughness causes lower IEP and might cause slip boundary conditions.
Ordering of interfacial water at the hematite and corundum (0
0
1)–water interfaces has been characterized using in situ high resolution specular X-ray reflectivity measurements. The hematite (0
0
1) ...surface was prepared through an annealing process to produce a surface isostructural with corundum (0
0
1), facilitating direct comparison. Interfacial water was found to display a similar structure on this pair of isostructural surfaces. A single layer of adsorbed water having a large vibrational amplitude was present on each surface and additional ordering of water extended at least 1
nm into the bulk fluid, with the degree of ordering decreasing with increasing distance from the surfaces. Consistent with prior studies of the (0
1
2) and (1
1
0) surfaces of hematite and corundum, the configuration of water above the (0
0
1) surfaces is primarily controlled by the surface structure, specifically the arrangement of surface functional groups. However, interfacial water at the (0
0
1) surfaces displayed significantly larger vibrational amplitudes throughout the interfacial region than at other isostructural sets of hematite and corundum surfaces, indicating weaker ordering. Comparison of the vibrational amplitudes of adsorbed water on a series of oxide, silicate, and phosphate mineral surfaces suggests that the presence or absence of a substantial interfacial electrostatic field is the primary control on water ordering and not the surface structure itself. On surfaces for which charge originates dominantly through protonation–deprotonation reactions the controlling factor appears to be whether conditions exist where most functional groups are uncharged as opposed to the net surface charge. The doubly coordinated functional groups on hematite and corundum (0
0
1) surfaces are largely uncharged under slightly acidic to circumneutral pH conditions, leading to weak ordering, whereas singly coordinated groups on (0
1
2) and (1
1
0) surfaces of these phases are always charged, even when the net surface charge is zero, and induce strong water ordering. Surfaces lacking structural charge can thus be divided into two distinct classes that induce either strong or weak ordering of interfacial water. Surface functional group coordination is the ultimate control on this division as it determines the charge state of such groups under different protonation configurations. Ion adsorption and electron transfer processes may differ between these classes of surfaces because of the effect of water ordering strength on interfacial capacitances and hydrogen bonding.
Coarse‐grained (>3–5 μm) gray hematite particles occur at Vera Rubin ridge (VRR) within Gale crater, Mars. VRR has likely undergone multiple episodes of diagenesis, at least one of which resulted in ...the formation of gray hematite. The precursor mineralogy and nature of the diagenetic fluids that produced coarse‐grained hematite remain unknown. Analog laboratory experiments were performed on a variety of iron(III) minerals to assess the potential fluid conditions and precursor mineralogy that form coarse‐grained hematite. Gray hematite formed from the transformation of jarosite after 20 days at 200°C. Conversion was complete in chloride‐rich fluids; however, modeling indicates that at lower jarosite‐to‐water ratios, conversion is complete even in chloride‐free, sulfate‐rich conditions. No transformations of jarosite occurred when aged at 98°C. All other precursor minerals (akaganeite, ferrihydrite, goethite, and schwertmannite) did not transform or produced red, fine‐grained hematite under all conditions assessed. Additionally, seeding precursor iron(III) phases with red hematite and coarsening pre‐existing red hematite failed to produce gray hematite. These results suggest that jarosite could have been the precursor of gray hematite at VRR and that transformation is possible in both sulfate‐bearing and chloride‐bearing fluids. Jarosite produces gray hematite because the acidic conditions it generates yield both a low degree of hematite supersaturation, producing few nuclei, and high dissolved iron concentrations, enabling rapid hematite growth. Gray hematite readily forms under oxic conditions and its occurrence at VRR is not a marker for a redox interface. The associated diagenetic event was thus unlikely to have generated substantial new chemical energy for life.
Plain Language Summary
Hematite is often formed from other pre‐existing iron‐bearing minerals in water‐rich environments. Depending on its grain size, hematite can be either red (fine‐grained) or gray (coarse‐grained) and these grain sizes likely indicate distinct past conditions. Gray hematite has been observed at Vera Rubin ridge (VRR) in Gale crater, Mars, but how it formed is currently unknown. Laboratory experiments in this study demonstrate that jarosite, an iron‐ and sulfur‐bearing mineral, converts to gray hematite in fluids at elevated temperatures. Increased chloride in the fluid promotes more complete transformation but complete transformation will also occur in systems with sufficiently low jarosite‐to‐water ratios. Other iron‐bearing minerals assessed (akaganeite, ferrihydrite, goethite, schwertmannite, and fine‐grained hematite) did not transform or coarsen to gray hematite under any experimental conditions studied. The gray hematite at VRR likely formed by conversion from jarosite during alteration after the sediments in Gale crater had already formed. The conditions associated with this event did not provide any new chemical energy for life.
Key Points
Jarosite transforms to gray hematite at 200°C in both sulfate‐ and chloride‐bearing fluids
Goethite, akaganeite, ferrihydrite, schwertmannite, and red hematite do not form gray hematite after 20 days in the conditions assessed
Jarosite may be a viable precursor mineral to the gray hematite at Vera Rubin ridge due to the acidity it generates during dissolution
This paper summarizes Spirit Rover operations in the Columbia Hills, Gusev crater, from sol 1410 (start of the third winter campaign) to sol 2169 (when extrication attempts from Troy stopped to ...winterize the vehicle) and provides an overview of key scientific results. The third winter campaign took advantage of parking on the northern slope of Home Plate to tilt the vehicle to track the sun and thus survive the winter season. With the onset of the spring season, Spirit began circumnavigating Home Plate on the way to volcanic constructs located to the south. Silica‐rich nodular rocks were discovered in the valley to the north of Home Plate. The inoperative right front wheel drive actuator made climbing soil‐covered slopes problematical and led to high slip conditions and extensive excavation of subsurface soils. This situation led to embedding of Spirit on the side of a shallow, 8 m wide crater in Troy, located in the valley to the west of Home Plate. Examination of the materials exposed during embedding showed that Spirit broke through a thin sulfate‐rich soil crust and became embedded in an underlying mix of sulfate and basaltic sands. The nature of the crust is consistent with dissolution and precipitation in the presence of soil water within a few centimeters of the surface. The observation that sulfate‐rich deposits in Troy and elsewhere in the Columbia Hills are just beneath the surface implies that these processes have operated on a continuing basis on Mars as landforms have been shaped by erosion and deposition.
The ~100 m wide Marathon Valley crosscuts the Cape Tribulation rim segment of the 22 km diameter, Noachian‐age Endeavour impact crater on Mars. Single‐scattering albedo spectra retrieved from three ...Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) Full‐Resolution Targeted (FRT, regularized to 18 m/pixel) and two Along Track Oversampled (ATO, regularized to 12 m/pixel) observations indicate the presence of Fe3+‐Mg2+ smectite exposures located in Marathon Valley with combination vibration metal‐OH absorption strength comparable to smectite spectral signatures in Mawrth Vallis. The Opportunity rover was directed to the exposures and documented the presence of Shoemaker formation impact breccias that have been isochemically altered, likely by fracture‐controlled aqueous fluids.
Key Points
Fe3+‐Mg2+ smectites detected in Marathon Valley using five CRISM observations
Opportunity found that Shoemaker formation breccias dominate Marathon Valley
Breccias were isochemically altered to generate Fe3+‐Mg2+ smectites
The disposal of basic sodium aluminate and acidic U(VI)−Cu(II) wastes in the now-dry North and South 300 A Process Ponds at the Hanford site resulted in a groundwater plume of U(VI). To gain insight ...into the geochemical processes that occurred during waste disposal and those affecting the current and future fate and transport of this uranium plume, the solid-phase speciation of uranium in a depth sequence of sediments from the base of the North Process Pond through the vadose zone to groundwater was investigated using standard chemical and mineralogical analyses, electron and X-ray microprobe measurements, and X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Near-surface sediments contained uranium coprecipitated with calcite, which formed due to overneutralization of the waste ponds with base (NaOH). At intermediate depths in the vadose zone, metatorbernite Cu(UO2PO4)2·8H2O precipitated, likely during pond operations. Uranium occurred predominantly sorbed onto phyllosilicates in the deeper vadose zone and groundwater; sorbed uranium was also an important component at intermediate depths. Since the calcite-bearing pond sediments have been removed in remediation efforts, uranium fate and transport will be controlled primarily by desorption of the sorbed uranium and dissolution of metatorbernite.
Time-resolved U(VI) laser fluorescence spectra (TRLFS) were recorded for a series of natural uranium-silicate minerals including boltwoodite, uranophane, soddyite, kasolite, sklodowskite, ...cuprosklodowskite, haiweeite, and weeksite, a synthetic boltwoodite, and four U(VI)-contaminated Hanford vadose zone sediments. Lowering the sample temperature from RT to ∼ 5.5 K significantly enhanced the fluorescence intensity and spectral resolution of both the minerals and sediments, offering improved possibilities for identifying uranyl species in environmental samples. At 5.5 K, all of the uranyl silicates showed unique, well-resolved fluorescence spectra. The symmetric O = U = O stretching frequency, as determined from the peak spacing of the vibronic bands in the emission spectra, were between 705 to 823 cm
−1 for the uranyl silicates. These were lower than those reported for uranyl phosphate, carbonate, or oxy-hydroxides. The fluorescence emission spectra of all four sediment samples were similar to each other. Their spectra shifted minimally at different time delays or upon contact with basic Na/Ca-carbonate electrolyte solutions that dissolved up to 60% of the precipitated U(VI) pool. The well-resolved vibronic peaks in the fluorescence spectra of the sediments indicated that the major fluorescence species was a crystalline uranyl mineral phase, while the peak spacing of the vibronic bands pointed to the likely presence of uranyl silicate. Although an exact match was not found between the U(VI) fluorescence spectra of the sediments with that of any individual uranyl silicates, the major spectral characteristics indicated that the sediment U(VI) was a uranophane-type solid (uranophane, boltwoodite) or soddyite, as was concluded from microprobe, EXAFS, and solubility analyses.
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