Sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in chrysotile mine tailings of the Woodsreef Asbestos Mine, Australia: Quantitative mineralogy, isotopic fingerprinting and carbonation rates

Oskierski, Hans C.; Dlugogorski, Bogdan Z.; Jacobsen, Geraldine

doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.09.001

Cited by 82 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Woodsreef Mine is situated in the Great Serpentine Belt (GSB) (267.2 ± 1.4 Ma), which is comprised of partially serpentinized harzburgite, massive serpentinite, and schistose serpentinite Oskierski et al, 2013 Oskierski et al, 2013). These provinces are part of the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic New England Orogen (NEO) that resulted from accretion along the convergent plate margin along the eastern side of Gondwana (Oskierski et al, 2013).…”

Section: Regional Geology and Characterization Of Untreated Mine Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These provinces are part of the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic New England Orogen (NEO) that resulted from accretion along the convergent plate margin along the eastern side of Gondwana (Oskierski et al, 2013). The GSB is a partially serpentinized, incomplete ophiolite sequence composed of harzburgite, dunite, and ultramafic melange (Aitchison and Ireland, 1995;O'Hanley and Offler, 1992).…”

Section: Regional Geology and Characterization Of Untreated Mine Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many mine tailings storage facilities already demonstrate passive mineral carbonation in the form of hydrated magnesium carbon mineral precipitation Power et al, 2011a;. This includes the Woodsreef Asbestos Mine near Barraba, NSW, Australia studied in this thesis (Oskierski et al, 2013;Oskierski et al, 2016).…”

Section: Carbonate Mineral Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The GSB is a partially serpentinized, incomplete ophiolite sequence composed of harzburgite, dunite, and ultramafic melange (Aitchison and Ireland, 1995;O'Hanley and Offler, 1992). The economic schistose serpentinite is present as lenticular bodies of lizardite and chrysotile that formed in the latest phase of a multistage serpentinization process (O'Hanley and Offler, 1992;Oskierski et al, 2013). Mining activity (1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983) produced 550 000 t of chrysotile, with the derelict mine site occupying 400 hectares and hosting 75 million t of waste rock, 24.2 million t of tailings, and four 'lakes' in the open pits (pH 8.6-9.0) ( Figure 5.1) NSW Government Trade & Investment, 2014 (Oskierski et al, 2013;.…”

Section: Regional Geology and Characterization Of Untreated Mine Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oskierski et al (2013) identified and characterized naturally occurring carbonate precipitation at the Woodsreef Asbestos Mine, located near Barraba, NSW, Australia. Carbon storage in chrysotile mine tailings such as those found at Woodsreef is desirable because the carbonate precipitation process remediates the hazardous asbestos fibers remaining after the cessation of mining activity and assists in establishing slope stability .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Microbial carbonation in natural and engineered environments

McCutcheon¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microbial carbonation, the ability of microorganisms to promote carbonate mineral precipitation, has been documented in a variety of environments. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the biogeochemical processes by which cyanobacteria aid carbonate precipitation in two contrasting environments as a means of determining if the fundamental controls on cyanobacterial carbonation are consistent across environmental regimes.The first of these environments was beachrock in the intertidal zone of Heron Island (Capricorn Group, Great Barrier Reef). In this investigation, carbonate microbialites and cements in the beachrock were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM). Mapping strontium using XFM proved to be a useful technique for revealing structures in beachrock that are otherwise difficult to see, such as laminations in aragonite (CaCO 3 ) microbialites. Characterization using SEM suggested that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play an important role in carbonate mineral nucleation. These results indicate that microbial carbonate mineral dissolution and re-precipitation over time is crucial to beachrock lithification.The role of microorganisms, particularly alkalinity generating cyanobacteria, in beachrock formation was confirmed in an 8-week beachrock synthesis experiment. Aquaria containing beach sand and fragmented beachrock from Heron Island were maintained under conditions simulating the intertidal zone environment in which beachrock forms. The seawater added to the aquaria was enriched in strontium so that any new carbonate precipitates could be identified using XFM. Beachrock was successfully synthesized and contained fossiliferous microbialites comparable to those in natural beachrock. Cement nucleation occurred on EPS within biofilms and exhibited co-precipitation of aragonite and calcite. No beachrock formed in the aquarium controlled by evaporation and tidal wetting and drying. These findings suggest that microbial activity is necessary for instigating beachrock cementation, which may become important as a means of stabilizing reef sand cays against sea-level rise.The ability of cyanobacteria to induce materials stabilization was subsequently applied to a more industrial setting, the derelict Woodsreef Asbestos Mine (New South Wales, Australia). Woodsreef Mine hosts ~24 Mt of tailings rich in asbestiform chrysotile [Mg 3 (Si 2 O 5 )(OH) 4 ]. Cyanobacteriadominated microbial mats can be found in the open pits lakes, and were used as an inoculum for mineral carbonation experiments. These experiments aimed to contain the tailings by producing a magnesium carbonate crust, or 'magcrete', while also sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide.iii Columns of tailings were leached using sulfuric acid to release magnesium from the tailing minerals, after which some columns were inoculated with the microbial consortium. In 4 weeks, a mm-scale crust of dypingite [Mg 5 (CO 3 ) 4 (OH) 2 ·5H 2 O] formed on the surface of the inoculated col...

show abstract

Section: Regional Geology and Characterization Of Untreated Mine Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional Geology and Characterization Of Untreated Mine Tailmentioning

confidence: 99%