Artinite

Abstract: Infrared spectra in the 0.5-50 m range have been measured on nesquehonite (MgCO 3 .3H 2 O, artinite (MgCO 3 .Mg(OH) 2 .3H 2 O) and hydromagnesite (4MgCO 3 .Mg(OH) 2 .4H 2 O). The CO 3 2- internal vibrations are sharp in hydromagnesite and unexpectedly broad and diffuse in artinite and nesquehonite. The OH - stretching region contains a sharp band indicative of a weak, well defined hydrogen bond in all three minerals. There is also a broad band characteristic of moderately strong and less well defined hydrogen bonds in all three. In addition hydromagnesite has two sharp intense bands not present in the other two minerals. The artinite spectrum is interpretable by Jagodzinski's structure and nesquehonite appears to be similar. Hydromagnesite should have a distinctly different structure. There is no evidence for bicarbonate groups in nesquehonite.

Abstract: The reaction of magnesium minerals such as brucite with CO2 is important in the sequestration of CO2. The study of the thermal stability of hydromagnesite and diagenetically related compounds is of fundamental importance to this sequestration. The understanding of the thermal stability of magnesium carbonates and the relative metastability of hydrous carbonates including hydromagnesite, artinite, nesquehonite, barringtonite and lansfordite is extremely important to the sequestration process for the removal of atmospheric CO2. This work makes a comparison of the dynamic and controlled rate thermal analysis of hydromagnesite and nesquehonite. The dynamic thermal analysis of synthetic hydromagnesite proves that dehydration takes place in two steps at 135 and 184°C, dehydroxylation at 412°C and decarbonation at 474°C. Controlled rate thermal analysis shows the first dehydration step is isothermal and the second quasi-isothermal at 108 and 145°C, respectively. In the CRTA experiment both water and carbon dioxide are evolved in an isothermal decomposition at 376°C. CRTA technology offers better resolution and a more detailed interpretation of the decomposition processes of magnesium carbonates such as nesquehonite via approaching equilibrium conditions of decomposition through the elimination of the slow transfer of heat to the sample as a controlling parameter on the process of decomposition. Constant-rate decomposition processes of non-isothermal nature reveal partial nesquehonite structure.

Abstract: Absorption features at 2.28 and 5.4 micrometers identified in Mariner 6/7 infrared spectrometer and terrestrial telescopic spectra are consistent with the spectra of hydrous magnesium carbonates such as hydromagnesite and artinite. Spectral characteristics of these hydrous carbonates are different from those of the anhydrous carbonates, as the former do not have the strong spectral features typically associated with anhydrous carbonates such as calcite and siderite. Theoretical mixing indicates that, depending on the type of hydrous carbonate, 10-20 wt % can be incorporated into the regolith without contradicting the spectral observations or the Viking x ray fluorescence chemical analysis. Hydrous carbonates form as weathering products of mafic minerals in the presence of H2O and CO2, even in the Antarctic. Their formation as evaporite minerals from either original magmas or hydrothermally altered rocks is consistent with the Martian environment, provided liquid water is or has been at least transiently present. On Earth, formation of hydrous Mg carbonates is associated with the production of amorphous iron oxides, which is consistent with both the environment and the inferred surface mineralogy of Mars. These minerals are about 60 wt % H2O, CO3, and OH; if they are abundant everywhere at the 10% level, then about 6% of the surface weight could be volatiles bound in this type of mineral. Although the spectroscopic evidence for anhydrous carbonates is scant, the possible presence of hydrous carbonates provides an appealing mechanism for the existence of carbonates on Mars.