Substantial advances have been made over the past few decades in our ability to understand the elementary structure, dynamics and reactivity of well-defined mineral-water interfaces, and in the relationship of these observations to the behavior of natural systems. Given the many contributions of James Kirkpatrick to this area, this is a good time to assess where we are and where we are going. In particular, after briefly summarizing the current state of the art for understanding mineral-water interfacial reactivity, I will discuss anticipated advances that are expected to enable a new understanding of interfacial reactivity of geochemical systems. I will focus on the study of systems that can create a bridge between the behavior of well-defined model systems (single crystal surfaces) and real-world systems (a porous rock sample with flow-limited reactant transport). An additional opportunity in this area is in the use of X-ray coherence to enable imaging complex structures and dynamics at a level not previously achievable.

New opportunities for understanding geochemical reactivity*

ACS Fall 2021

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