Lecture: From atoms to minerals: how calcium carbonates form and why we should care

Lecture by Dr. Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco, 2021 EAG Distinguished Lecturer

The crystallisation of calcium carbonates is key in abiotic and biomineralisation processes, which in turn control a large part of the global carbon cycle. Many of these processes involve the formation amorphous precursors and metastable crystalline phases prior to the crystallisation of thermodynamically stable phases. In this talk we will examine key examples showing the mechanisms of formation of calcium carbonates and their implications for biomineralisation, industrial processes and carbon sequestration.

Dr. Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco is based in the Department of Geology (School of Natural Sciences), Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His fields of research are environmental mineralogy and crystallisation. His research focuses on mineral genesis and the interaction of aqueous species with mineral surfaces. In particular, he studies the mechanisms of mineral nucleation and growth and the interaction of common seawater ions, pollutants and organics with mineral surfaces and their relevance to global-scale processes like biomineralisation, biogeochemical element cycling and the evolution of the global chemistry of the oceans.