New evidence on the dissolution mechanism of crystalline silicates by MeV ion beam techniques

Abstract In this paper new data on the dissolution of various silicate minerals (quartz, albite, olivine) are presented, obtained by means of MeV ion beam techniques (resonant nuclear reactions and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry), which allow surface chemical analysis of solids. The main result of this study is the evidence that dissolution of silicate minerals can proceed via a marked surface hydration. It is shown that ion beam techniques are very effective to study the mechanisms of mineral dissolution.