Reflectance and emittance spectroscopy in the near-infra red and short-wave infra red offers a rapid, Inexpensive, non-destructive tool for determining the mineralogy of rock and soil samples. Hyperspectral remote sensing has the potential to provide the detailed physico-chemistry (mineralogy, chemistry, morphology) of the earth’s surface. This information is useful for mapping potential host r...

We have previously shown that AQP5 and BTF3 genetic variation and expression in whole saliva are associated with caries experience suggesting that these genes may have a functional role in protecting against caries. To further explore these results, we tested ex vivo if variants in these genes are associated with subclinical dental enamel mineral loss. DNA and enamel samples were obtained from ...

Human ferritins sequester and store iron as a stable FeOOH((s)) mineral core within a protein shell assembled from 24 subunits of two types, H and L. Core mineralization in recombinant H- and L-subunit homopolymer and heteropolymer ferritins and several site-directed H-subunit variants was investigated to determine the iron oxidation/hydrolysis chemistry as a function of iron flux into the prot...

The debate of life on Mars centers around the source of the globular, micrometer-sized mineral carbonates in the ALH84001 meteorite; consequently, the identification of Martian processes that form carbonates is critical. This paper reports a previously undescribed carbonate formation process that occurs on Earth and, likely, on Mars. We identified micrometer-sized carbonates in terrestrial aero...

[1] Understanding the processes controlling chemical sedimentation is an important step in deciphering paleoclimatic conditions from the rock records preserved on both Earth and Mars. Clear evidence for subaqueous sedimentation at Meridiani Planum, widespread saline mineral deposits in the Valles Marineris region, and the possible role of saline waters in forming recent geomorphologic features ...

Soil Ca depletion because of acidic deposition-related soil chemistry changes has led to the decline of forest productivity and carbon sequestration in the northeastern USA. In 1999, acidic watershed (WS) 1 at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), NH, USA was amended with Ca silicate to restore soil Ca pools. In 2006, soil samples were collected from the Ca-amended (WS1) and reference w...

For Fe contained in aeolian dust to act as a micronutrient for oceanic phytoplankton, some fraction of it must first be transformed (mobilized) into a form soluble in ocean water. Fe solubilization in deliquesced mineral dust aerosols emanating from East Asia during the springtime outflow conditions is investigated here with a Lagrangian box model of the gas and aqueous-phase chemistry. The mod...

The removal of arsenic from process solutions and effluents has been practiced by the mineral process industries for many years. More recently, because of the recognition that arsenic at low concentrations in drinking water causes severe health effects, the technologies that have been used in the mineral industry are being applied to that situation. Removal of arsenic in process solutions can b...

Overview Fluid inclusions are small, sealed, naturally occurring volumes found in mineral host crystals containing encapsulated aqueous and non-aqueous liquids and gases. Discrete mineral phases may also occur within fluid inclusions, either by precipitation from the soluterich fluids or via collocation at a host crystal defect. Fluid inclusions appear in many different patterns. For example, f...

*Correspondence: Jerzy P. Lukaszewicz, Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Gagarina 11, Torun 87-100, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Nature is a source of some biomaterials like wood and chitin, which can be successfully transformed into chars of advanced structural/surface parameters. The manuscript is discursive and suggests that particular components of the mate...