Applications of mineral surface chemistry to environmental problems

Environmental surface chemistry involves processes that occur at the interface between the regolith, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The more limited scope of the present review addresses natural and anthropogenically-induced inorganic geochemical reactions between solutes in surface and ground waters and soil and aquifer substrates. Important surficial reactions include sorption, ion exchange, dissolution, precipitation and heterogeneous oxidation/reduction processes occurring at the solid/aqueous interface. Recent research advances in this field have addressed, both directly and indirectly, societal issues related to water quality, pollution, biogeochemical cycling, nutrient budgets and chemical weathering related to long term global climate change. This review will include recent advances in the fundamental and theoretical understanding of these surficial processes, breakthroughs in experimental and instrumental surface characterization, and development of methodologies for field applications.