Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

About: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a nonprofit organization based out in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Mantle (geology). The organization has 5685 authors who have published 18396 publications receiving 1202050 citations. The organization is also known as: WHOI.

Rates and mechanisms of mineral carbonation in peridotite: natural processes and recipes for enhanced, in situ CO2 capture and storage

Abstract: Near-surface reaction of CO2-bearing fluids with silicate minerals in peridotite and basalt forms solid carbonate minerals. Such processes form abundant veins and travertine deposits, particularly in association with tectonically exposed mantle peridotite. This is important in the global carbon cycle, in weathering, and in understanding physical-chemical interaction during retrograde metamorphism. Enhancing the rate of such reactions is a proposed method for geologic CO2 storage, and perhaps for direct capture of CO2 from near-surface fluids. We review, synthesize, and extend inferences from a variety of sources. We include data from studies on natural peridotite carbonation processes, carbonation kinetics, feedback between permeability and volume change via reaction-driven cracking, and proposed methods for enhancing the rate of natural mineral carbonation via in situ processes (“at the outcrop”) rather than ex situ processes (“at the smokestack”).

Gas Chromatographic Isolation of Individual Compounds from Complex Matrices for Radiocarbon Dating

Abstract: This paper describes the application of a novel, practical approach for isolation of individual compounds from complex organic matrices for natural abundance radiocarbon measurement. This is achieved through the use of automated preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) to separate and recover sufficient quantities of individual target compounds for 14C analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). We developed and tested this approach using a suite of samples (plant lipids, petroleums) whose ages spanned the 14C time scale and which contained a variety of compound types (fatty acids, sterols, hydrocarbons). Comparison of individual compound and bulk radiocarbon signatures for the isotopically homogeneous samples studied revealed that Δ14C values generally agreed well (±10%). Background contamination was assessed at each stage of the isolation procedure, and incomplete solvent removal prior to combustion was the only significant source of additional carbon. Isotope fractionation was addressed thr...