Journal Article

Differentiation of silicates from H2O ice in an icy body induced by ripening

Sirono, Sin-iti

2013

Overview

One of the probable scenarios of differentiation between silicate-ice in an icy object is the settling of a silicate particle in water after the melting of the object. In order for settling to proceed or occur, the size of the particle should be sufficiently large such that the settling velocity of the particle exceeds the background flow velocity induced by thermal convection. The sizes of the particles change because of dissolution and precipitation. This process is called ripening. In this study, the critical particle sizes required for settling, and the timescales for the growth of the particles to these sizes through ripening, are analytically derived. It is observed that settling is possible if the silicate particles coagulate with each other to form a network in water. If the particles do not coagulate, the probability of the occurrence of settling is low, because the time duration required for the particle growth to the critical size is large. The coagulation of silicate particles strongly depends on the pH of the water.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / Flow velocity / Geology / Geophysics/Geodesy / Settling velocity / Silicates