Mineral Surfaces – From Atomic Processes to Geotechnology
Minerals are naturally formed substances in the Earth’s crust that have a homogeneous chemical composition and a characteristic crystalline structure. Mineral aggregates, in the form of various types of rocks and sediments, make up the Earth’s crust. Thus the areas of the Earth that are close to the surface consist of several hundred million square kilometres of mineral surfaces, upon which a multitude of chemical, physical and biological reactions take place.
Many processes that affect the environment are directly determined by the specific characteristics of these surfaces. For example, the occurrence of heavy metals in groundwater is limited by their absorption or by organic pollutants on mineral surfaces.
The wide variety of reactions on mineral surfaces is also intentionally utilized in many technical products and processes, for instance in the construction industry. Increased familiarity with this multitude of reactions is therefore necessary if we wish to gain a better understanding of a whole range of natural and technological processes.
In recent years, researchers using experimental approaches have succeeded in considerably expanding our knowledge of surface-area reactions between minerals and their local environments. In the process, it has become increasingly obvious that we need to be able to construct models of these interactions. The GEOTECHNOLOGIEN programme seeks to tackle this objective in its research area »Mineral Surfaces: From Atomic Processes to Geotechnology«.
