2023-12-03 11:38:27
In 1791, the French explorer Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu described a mineral that looked like limestone, but did not dissolve easily in acid like limestone. Since then, geoscientists have been trying to figure out how it forms. Dolomite is widespread in rock formations that are older than 100 million years, not only in the Alps, the Carpathians or the Rhenish Slate Mountains, but in many other mountains on earth. However, it occurs very rarely in younger rocks.
Strangely enough, it has not yet been possible to artificially produce dolomite under realistic conditions in the laboratory. Geochemists from the USA and Japan have now solved this “dolomite problem” and the solution is in „Science“ published. According to this, dolomite crystals are formed when atoms from the top layer of the crystal are repeatedly released and rearranged.
#mineral #dolomite #formed