Design and operation of Fe0 permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) can be improved by understanding the long-term mineralogical transformations that occur within PRBs. Changes in mineral precipitates, cementation, and corrosion of Fe0 filings within an in situ pilot-scale PRB were examined after the first 30 months of operation and compared with results of a previous study of the PRB conducted 15 m...

The process of mineral formation following periods of growth interruption (growth bands) is described. Flat pearl implantation as well as a new trepanning method are used to observe the transitory phases of calcium carbonate which nucleate and grow during this process. An initial random nucleation of the aragonite polymorph is observed followed by a transition towards spherulitic growth. During...

Trichoplax adhaerens has only six cell types. The function as well as the structure of crystal cells, the least numerous cell type, presented an enigma. Crystal cells are arrayed around the perimeter of the animal and each contains a birefringent crystal. Crystal cells resemble lithocytes in other animals so we looked for evidence they are gravity sensors. Confocal microscopy showed that their ...

Many biominerals, including mollusk and echinoderm shells, avian eggshells, modern and fossil bacterial sediments, planktonic coccolithophores, and foraminifera, contain carbonates in the form of biogenic aragonite or calcite. Here we analyze biogenic and geologic aragonite using different kinds of surface- and bulk-sensitive X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy at the carb...

The presence of bromine as a trace-element in calcium carbonate speleothems constitutes useful proxy past volcanic activity, thus helping to provide input parameters for climate model simulations and risk assessment. However, the chemical nature bromine-containing impurities phases forming is not understood, which limits interpretation experimental measurements on speleothems. We present here c...

Marubini F, Ferrier-Pagès C, Jaubert J (2000)Coral response to changes in aragonitesaturation state of seawater. 9 Int. CoralReef Symp., Oct 23–27, Bali Indonesia,

The eyes on the backs of molluscs known as chitons are shadow and motion detectors, the lenses of which are made of birefringent aragonite. These provide a focus both in and out of water.

Pseudohexagonal and single-crystal-like aragonite tablets, found in nacre, could be uniformly fabricated through a temperature-varying approach for the first time, indicating the triplet twinning nature and implying a potential significance in biomineralization.

Polysaccharides were believed to play an important role in the mineralization process of many organisms. As the source of continuously and uniformly releasing alginate molecules and Ca(2+), alginate/Ca nanospherical gel was employed in the solution to induce the nucleation and growth of CaCO(3). Time-resolved transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to study the crystallization at a v...