BOUND WATER AS AN ACCUMULATOR OF SOLAR ENERGY IN SUPERGENE CLAYS
S.L. Shvartsev
Tomsk Branch of the Institute of Oil and Gas Geology, Siberian Branch of the RAS,
3 prosp. Akademicheskii, Tomsk, 634021, Russia
Keywords: Weathering, hypergenesis, energetics of geologic processes, physically bound water, water-rock system, physicochemical equilibrium, inner evolution, self-organization
Pages: 230-236
Abstract
The roots of disagreement on the energetics of exogenous processes have been analyzed in the context of modern views on water-rock interaction. Results of thermodynamic analysis of weathering reactions are reported. It is shown that the formation of supergene clays involves two different geological processes: hydrolysis of aluminosilicates and binding of large amounts of water. Relative to the free water, the bound water has a higher free energy of formation. This difference considerably changes the energetics of hydrolysis reactions, which actually are all endothermic. The conclusion is made that physically bound water and, therefore, clays bear large stocks of accumulated solar energy. This fact proves that oriented inner evolution and self-organization took place in inorganic matter like those known in biogenic systems, with a genetic relationship existing between them.
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