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Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Chemical Gardens as Flow-through Reactors Simulating Natural Hydrothermal Systems
Published on: November 18, 2015
Chemical gardens from silicates and cations of group 2: a comparative study of composition, morphology and
Julyan H E Cartwright1, Bruno Escribano, Sergey Khokhlov
1Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Av. Fuentenueva s/n, 18002, Granada, Spain.
Abstract:
We have compared the behaviour of the chloride salts of the cations Ca(2+), Sr(2+) and Ba(2+) of Group 2 of the Periodic Table in the formation of chemical gardens in silicate solutions. We performed analyses of morphology, composition and microstructure using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). We have identified different growth regimes in these salts (jetting and budding), which are dependent on the concentration of the silicate solution. The behaviour is similar for all the cations but reactivity decreases down the group and is directly proportional to the solubility of the salts: Ca(2+) > Sr(2+) > Ba(2+).
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