Analysis of Rates of Geochemical Reactions

Over the last several billion years, rocks formed at equilibrium within the mantle of the Earth have been exposed at the surface and have reacted to move towards a new equilibrium with the atmosphere and hydrosphere. At the same time that minerals, liquids, and gases react abiotically and progress toward chemical equilibrium at the Earth’s surface, biological processes harvest solar energy and use it to store electrons in reservoirs which are vastly out of equilibrium with the Earth’s other surface reservoirs. In addition to these processes, over the last several thousand years, humans have produced and disseminated non-equilibrated chemical phases into the Earth’s pedosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. To safeguard these mineral and fluid reservoirs so that they may continue to nurture ecosystems, we must understand the rates of chemical reactions as driven by tectonic, climatic, and anthropogenic forcings.