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The interaction of molecules on the mineral surface is interesting in understanding the development of icy mantles on interstellar and interplanetary dust. The ice grains can freeze and cover the silicate cores, growing an amorphous ice mantle. In the interstellar medium, olivine is a silicate that has been found in many places in dust. Previously we have simulated the interaction between amorphous water ice and forsterite surface. In this work we describe a more realistic situation, by adding ammonia molecules in a model of amorphous dirty ice onto forsterite surface. The NH 3 is a part of the volatile components of cometary and interstellar ices. We propose models that describe a mixture of amorphous ice (ammonia−water) and forsterite ( 100) surfaces (dipolar and nondipolar). Our quantum mechanical calculations show that the ammonia has a similar affinity (30 kcal/mol) to the forsterite surface as that of water (31 kcal/mol). We calculated also the infrared frequencies to characterize the most reactive sites in the chemisorption processes. We observed important frequency shifts related to the position of the main vibrational modes of the NH 3 moieties, which react chemically with the mineral surface.

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Tubular structures self‐assemble from precipitating magnesium salts under the chemical garden chemobrionic growth process. Two experimental procedures, the dissolution of magnesium salt pellets and the injection of magnesium salt solutions into silicate solutions, were explored to reproduce in the laboratory the geochemical conditions under which similar structures may form from mineral‐rich fluids at some seafloor hydrothermal vents driven by serpentinization. X‐ray diffraction and Raman microspectroscopy applied to the materials formed indicated the presence of layers of magnesium silicate and magnesium oxide/hydroxide. Quantum mechanical calculations based on density functional theory were performed on models of hydrated magnesium silicate surfaces and related minerals to explain the Raman spectroscopy results. We examine the precipitate morphology, chemical structure, and crystal or mineral structure in our experiments and how these change with the reaction conditions. This is a fascinating example in geochemistry of a self‐organizing nonequilibrium process that creates complex structures.

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