Carbonate Sinter - Formation, Chemical Composition and Isotope Signatures

Carbonate sinters are most conspicuous in the overground areas of bridges, parking levels, retaining walls, and other concrete structures. The distribution of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes exhibits that the carbonate sinters in these areas are mostly related to atmospheric carbon dioxide. The drainage systems of tunnel buildings in the area of carbonate rocks may be clogged within a short time by calcite sinter. In this case the amount of atmospheric carbonate and carbonate gained from the ground water may be estimated by the isotopic composition of the calcite sinter. The precipitation of CaCO3 sinter in caves may be used to reconstruct the evolution of natural environments, like sources of components, paleoenvironment, and paleoclimate. The specific boundary conditions and geological ages are obtained by the chemical composition and isotope signatures of speleothems. not assigned GG: Industrielle Förderung