Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (18) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kile, D. E. Articles by Eberl, D.D. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

On the origin of size-dependent and size-independent crystal growth: Influence of advection and diffusion

U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine St., Suite E-127, Boulder, Colorado 80303-1066, U.S.A.

Correspondence: ^* E-mail: dekile{at}usgs.gov

Crystal growth experiments were conducted using potassium alum and calcite crystals in aqueous solution under both non-stirred and stirred conditions to elucidate the mechanism for size-dependent (proportionate) and size-independent (constant) crystal growth. Growth by these two laws can be distinguished from each other because the relative size difference among crystals is maintained during proportionate growth, leading to a constant crystal size variance (ß²) for a crystal size distribution (CSD) as the mean size increases. The absolute size difference among crystals is maintained during constant growth, resulting in a decrease in size variance. Results of these experiments show that for centimeter-sized alum crystals, proportionate growth occurs in stirred systems, whereas constant growth occurs in non-stirred systems. Accordingly, the mechanism for proportionate growth is hypothesized to be related to the supply of reactants to the crystal surface by advection, whereas constant growth is related to supply by diffusion. Paradoxically, micrometer-sized calcite crystals showed proportionate growth both in stirred and in non-stirred systems. Such growth presumably results from the effects of convection and Brownian motion, which promote an advective environment and hence proportionate growth for minute crystals in non-stirred systems, thereby indicating the importance of solution velocity relative to crystal size. Calcite crystals grown in gels, where fluid motion was minimized, showed evidence for constant, diffusion-controlled growth. Additional investigations of CSDs of naturally occurring crystals indicate that proportionate growth is by far the most common growth law, thereby suggesting that advection, rather than diffusion, is the dominant process for supplying reactants to crystal surfaces.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Cheng, Z. Zhou, and E. Nakamura Crystal-size distribution and composition of garnets in eclogites from the Dabie orogen, central China American Mineralogist, January 1, 2008; 93(1): 124 - 133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. B. Williams and R. L. Hervig CRYSTAL-SIZE DEPENDENCE OF ILLITE-SMECTITE ISOTOPE EQUILIBRATION WITH CHANGING FLUIDS Clays and Clay Minerals, October 1, 2006; 54(5): 531 - 540. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. N. Bindeman Fragmentation phenomena in populations of magmatic crystals American Mineralogist, November 1, 2005; 90(11-12): 1801 - 1815. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Aldega and D.D. Eberl Detrital illite crystals identified from crystallite thickness measurements in siliciclastic sediments American Mineralogist, October 1, 2005; 90(10): 1587 - 1596. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Kaneko, T. Tsunogae, and T. Miyano Crystal-size distributions of garnets in metapelites from the northeastern Bushveld contact aureole, South Africa American Mineralogist, August 1, 2005; 90(8-9): 1422 - 1433. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. MOCK and D. A. JERRAM Crystal Size Distributions (CSD) in Three Dimensions: Insights from the 3D Reconstruction of a Highly Porphyritic Rhyolite J. Petrology, August 1, 2005; 46(8): 1525 - 1541. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E. Meth and W. D. Carlson DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED SYNKINEMATIC GROWTH OF GARNET FROM A HETEROGENEOUS PRECURSOR AT PASSO DEL SOLE, SWITZERLAND Can Mineral, February 1, 2005; 43(1): 157 - 182. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. ZEH Crystal Size Distribution (CSD) and Textural Evolution of Accessory Apatite, Titanite and Allanite during Four Stages of Metamorphism: an Example from the Moine Supergroup, Scotland J. Petrology, October 1, 2004; 45(10): 2101 - 2132. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]