Environmental and low temperature geochemistry

Environmental and Low-Temperature Geochemistry presents conceptual and quantitative principles of geochemistry in order to foster understanding of natural processes at and near the earth's surface, as well as anthropogenic impacts and remediation strategies. It provides the reader with principles that allow prediction of concentration, speciation, mobility and reactivity of elements and compounds in soils, waters, sediments and air, drawing attention to both thermodynamic and kinetic controls. The scope includes atmosphere, terrestrial waters, marine waters, soils, sediments and rocks in the shallow crust; the temporal scale is present to Precambrian, and the spatial scale is nanometers to local, regional and global. This second edition of Environmental and Low-Temperature Geochemistry provides the most up-to-date status of the carbon cycle and global warming, including carbon sources, sinks, fluxes and consequences, as well as emerging evidence for (and effects of) ocean acidification. Understanding environmental problems like this requires knowledge based in fundamental principles of equilibrium, kinetics, basic laws of chemistry and physics, empirical evidence, examples from the geological record, and identification of system fluxes and reservoirs that allow us to conceptualize and understand. This edition aims to do that with clear explanations of fundamental principles of geochemistry as well as information and approaches that provide the student or researcher with knowledge to address pressing questions in environmental and geological sciences.

Background and basic chemical principles : elements, ions, bonding, reactions -- Surficial and environmental mineralogy -- Organic compounds in the environment -- Aqueous systems and water chemistry -- Carbonate geochemistry and the carbon cycle -- Biogeochemical systems and cycles (N, P, S) -- The global atmosphere : composition, evolution, and anthropogenic change -- Air quality : urban and regional pollutants -- Chemical weathering, soils, and hydrology -- Stable isotope geochemistry -- Radioactive and radiogenic isotope geochemistry -- Appendices.