Dear All,
The metasomatism topic seems to be attractive. It has, at least,
attracted sevral responses that have been adressed directly to me
personally. This is of course not the purpose of a mailbase discussion.
Anyhow: I have labeled the photomicrograph that was attached to my last
mail. On this picture you can see two extremely resorbed olivine grains
(olivine 1 and olivine 2) from the original dunite. The metasomatic
reaction products are Mg-carbonate (magnesite) and Mg-silicate
(enstatite). The dark opaque phase is magnetite (Fe-oxyde). It does not
participate in the reaction. It is irrelevant for Korzinsky games.
The frozen-in reaction recorded by the texture is: Olivine + CO2 =
Enstatite + Magnesite.
The reaction, as shown, is an efficient natural CO2-sequestration
reaction. The CO2 from the gas/fluid phase is transferred to a solid (
magnesite).
However, this was not my major point. The point is, that the metasomatic
rock contains more minerals than the starting material.
Cheers
Kurt
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