2023-11-28 17:00:00
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On the horizon of the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adagio, stands an imposing Mountain chain with peaks of more than 3,000 meters high and surrounded by a bucolic atmosphere: the Dolomites. A majestic landscape that looks like this because it is naturally sculpted in, pardon the redundancy,dolomite.
This mineral, discovered in 1791 by the French geologist Déodat of Dolomieuis composed of ordered layers of calcium and magnesium carbonate which are also guilty of the rock formation of Niagara Falls, for example. However, since the first analysis carried out, more than 200 years ago, scientists have never managed to grow the mineral at the laboratory.
This apparent impossibility, added to the certainty that dolomite is very abundant in rocks over 100 million years old, but it is practically absent in younger formationshas always been a challenge for geologists, who dubbed the stagnation in research the “dolomite problem.”
Now, after decades speculating what the natural conditions must have been like for the configuration of these mountains, a group of scientists from the University of Michigan (United States) of the Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) has managed to solve the mystery: the secret to cultivating dolomite is its periodic dissolution.
The end of a long investigation
The Dolomites make tangible the idea that, on many occasions, beauty and complexity go hand in hand. And, while the French architect Le Corbusier described this element of the Italian Alpine landscape as “the most beautiful architectural work in the world”, the massif has starred one of the most difficult problems to solve for the scientific community.
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Dolomite is a material composed of ordered layers of calcium and magnesium carbonate that forms mountains like the Dolomites.
The new study, which has been published in the magazine Scienceputs an end to 200 years of uncertainty: thanks to techniques of electron microscopy With computational calculations, researchers have determined that, to grow dolomite in the laboratory, it is necessary eliminate defects in the mineral structure which prevents additional layers from forming.
This is explained because, when minerals form in water, atoms are arranged in an orderly manner at one edge of the growing crystal surface. However, in the case of dolomite that edge is alternating rows of calcium and magnesium They stick in the wrong order. Thus, defects created in the formation of additional layers can lead to a slowdown of around 10 million years in the process.
But, luckily, these defects are not unalterable: and, like the Disordered atoms are less stable than those in the correct position, They are the first to dissolve with the rain or with the tidal cycle; something that, according to the researchers, is consistent with the weather conditions of the regions where this not so mysterious mineral is present.
The beginning of new experiments in the cultivation of materials
The research conclusions not only do justice to the more than 200 years of efforts by the scientific community to decipher the enigma, but also lay the foundation for future experiments related to cultivation and growth of materials. And, as a result, the work team managed to develop 300 layers of dolomite (about one hundred nanometers), while previous studies had not exceeded five layers.
Thus, the discovery is so important for geology and engineering. In the first case, since it contributes to humanity understanding the geochemical process that influenced the massive formation of dolomites in the natural world, and in the second case, because the methodology used on this occasion could help engineers to manufacture better quality materialswithout defects, for semiconductors, solar panels, batteries and other innovative technologies.
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