Calcite precipitation instability under laminar, open-channel flow |
| |
Authors: | Ø . Hammer,D.K. Dysthe,H. Lund,P. Meakin,B. Jamtveit |
| |
Affiliation: | a Physics of Geological Processes, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1048, 0316 Blindern, Oslo, Norway b Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46, allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France c Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway d Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2211, USA |
| |
Abstract: | We present a 2D numerical model for the growth of calcite from supersaturated aqueous solutions under laminar, open-channel flow conditions. The model couples solution chemistry, precipitation at solution/calcite interfaces, hydrodynamics, diffusion and degassing. The model output is compared with experimental results obtained using an oversaturated calcite solution produced by mixing CaCl2 and Na2CO3. The precipitation rate is observed to increase when the supersaturated solution flows over an obstruction, leading to a growth instability that causes the formation of terraces. At relatively high flow rates, the most important mechanism for this behaviour seems to be hydrodynamic advection of dissolved species either towards or away from the calcite surface, depending on location relative to the obstruction, which deforms the concentration gradients. At lower flow rates, steepening of diffusion gradients around protrusions becomes important. Enhanced degassing over the obstruction due to shallowing and pressure drop is not important on small scales. Diffusion controlled transport close to the calcite surface can lead to a fingering-type growth instability, which generates porous textures. Our results are consistent with existing diffusive boundary layer theory, but for flow over non-smooth surfaces, simple calcite precipitation models that include empirical correlations between fluid flow rate and calcite precipitation rate are inaccurate. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|