GEOL 5270 - Water Geochemistry

• Graduate students will write a term paper about a topic assigned by the instructor or a field report about some additional field work assigned only to graduate students.
• Know basic laboratory methods for the determination of cations and anions in waters.
• Know field techniques for water sampling and measurement of physical-chemical parameters.
• Know how to determine alkalinity and acidity in waters.
• Know how to use of computer programs such as PHREEQCI to determine chemical speciation and saturation state of water with respect to different minerals.
• Know how to use of computer programs such as PHREEQCI to simulate mixing of waters.
• Know the geochemical origin of major ions in natural waters and the role of fluid-mineral interactions in the composition of water in groundwater, sediments, the ocean, and the atmosphere.
• Know the role of carbon dioxide in the composition of natural waters and weathering reactions.
• Know which species of carbonate, silica, aluminum, and iron are predominant at different pHs.
• Understand and apply the concepts of thermodynamic equilibrium, kinetics, complexation, oxidation-reduction, and cation exchange to problems in natural waters.
• Understand the role of mineral stability in the concentrations of carbonate species, silica, aluminum, iron in natural and contaminated waters.
• Understand the stability of minerals in a four dimensional space (P, T, pH, Eh).