Vivid blue inclusions in white whewellite or weddellite, occurring within the medulla of four lichen species growing on copper-bearing rocks, have been identified as the hydrated copper oxalate, moolooite, CUC204. nH20 (n ~ 0.4-0.7), by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. The mineral is believed to have been formed by reaction between oxalic acid secreted by the lichen and groun...

The growth of microbial biofilms and various biomineralization phenomena can lead to the formation of stable layers and veneers on rocks known as 'rock varnishes' that can stabilize surfaces and protect from further weathering. This article describes the potential application of fungal systems for bioprotection of rock and mineral-based substrates and the evidence to support this concept of uti...

Much is known about diffusion-limited growth from a dilute suspension. The simplest and most famous model is diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA), in which random walkers are released one-by-one far away and become frozen where they first touch a growing fractal cluster. Real growth phenomena, such as mineral deposition in rocks, however, often involve multiple processes, such as advection-diffu...

Understanding of the permeability of reservoir rocks at elevated temperature is becoming increasingly important both in oil field development and stimulation and in geothermal energy production. Rock properties such as permeability are often measured at ambient conditions with reservoir characteristics then based on these ambient measurements. liowever, rock and fluid properties may be radicall...

anomolously low A1203, low Ti02 and are enriched in chromium and nick~A We present petrographic and chemical c ata on the Kamloops Lake picritic tmalts as we1 I as the stratigraphic setting for thwe ultramafic lavas. Age constraints derive From field relationships, Mineral chemistry indicates th 31 these ultramafic rocks represent mantle-deri.ed material which has undergone: minimal differentia...