Can Ice-Like Structures Form on Non-Ice-Like Substrates? The Example of the K-feldspar Microcline.

ABSTRACT: Feldspar minerals are the most common rock formers in Earth's crust. As such they play an important role in subjects ranging from geology to climate science. An atomistic understanding of the feldspar structure and its interaction with water is therefore desirable, not least because feldspar has been shown to dominate ice nucleation by mineral dusts in Earth's atmosphere. The complexity of the ice/feldspar interface arising from the numerous chemical motifs expressed on the surface makes it a challenging system. Here we report a comprehensive study of this challenging system with ab initio density functional theory calculations. We show that the distribution of Al atoms, which is crucial for the dissolution kinetics of tectosilicate minerals, differs significantly between the bulk e

SUBMITTER: Pedevilla P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5127609 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature