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Effect of secondary minerals on electrokinetic phenomena during water‐rock interaction
Author(s) -
Guichet Xavier,
Zuddas Pierpaolo
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl017480
Subject(s) - electrokinetic phenomena , precipitation , dissolution , hydrothermal circulation , geology , mineralogy , geophysics , materials science , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , physics , meteorology , seismology , engineering
The main geophysical application of spontaneous potentials (SP) anomalies, i.e., electrical signal generated by hydroelectric coupling, is the mapping of hydrothermal zones. Laboratory studies of hydroelectric coupling as a function of temperature are scarce, because of experimental difficulties. Up today experiments carried out by Ishido and Mizutani [1981] with quartz‐Al‐K‐NO 3 system for temperatures ranging from 20°C to 80°C are not well understood. In this work, we show that Ishido and Mizutani [1981]'s solutions are oversaturated with aluminium, and that the precipitation of Al(OH) 3s is expected. Triple Layer Model (TLM) calculations for a gibbsite‐KNO 3 system can account for Ishido and Mizutani [1981]'s measurements. These results highlight that (1) the precipitation of a secondary mineral can hide the electrical properties of the primary rock; (2) the geochemical fluid surveys should be taken into account to grasp the interfacial processes (precipitation/dissolution), and to interpret the SP measurements in the field.