ADSORPTION AND REDOX PROCESS AT MINERAL-WATER INTERFACES: RECENT INSIGHTS AND FUTURE PREDICTIONS

Many of the geochemical processes occurring at the Earth's surface that are important to or influenced by humans occur at the interface between minerals and natural waters. Such processes affect contaminant fate and transport, biogeochemical element cycling, ore deposit formation, biomineralization, and nuclear waste disposal. The ability to predict and quantify these and other important processes in nature requires a fundamental understanding of the structure of mineral-water interfaces and the reactions that occur here. I will present highlights from my recent experimental work that show that the accepted model of how arsenate adsorbs to minerals may be incorrect and that reveal the dynamic behavior of an iron oxide mineral surface that may occur during biogeochemical iron cycling. I will conclude with a list of my predictions, some realistic and some far-fetched, of the discoveries we may make in the next 50 years concerning interfacial adsorption and redox reactions, and the effect these discoveries may have on how humans interact with the environment.