‘Dolomite Problem’: 200-year-old geology mystery resolved

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 19:32:28 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
https://news.umich.edu/200-year-old-geology-mystery-resolved/

"For 200 years, scientists have failed to grow a common mineral in the
laboratory under the conditions believed to have formed it naturally. Now, a
team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Hokkaido University in
Sapporo, Japan have finally pulled it off, thanks to a new theory developed
from atomic simulations.

Their success resolves a long-standing geology mystery called the “Dolomite
Problem.” Dolomite—a key mineral in the Dolomite mountains in Italy, Niagara
Falls and Utah’s Hoodoos—is very abundant in rocks older than 100 million
years, but nearly absent in younger formations.

“If we understand how dolomite grows in nature, we might learn new strategies
to promote the crystal growth of modern technological materials,” said Wenhao
Sun, the Dow Early Career Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at U-M
and the corresponding author of the paper published today in Science."

Via Future Crunch:
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-child-nutrition-human-rights-bhutan-ocean-png/>

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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