This RiMG (Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry) volume includes contributions that review
experimental characterization and modeling advances in our understanding of pore-scale
geochemical processes. The volume had its origins in a special theme session at the 2015
Goldschmidt Conference in Prague. From a diversity of pore-scale topics that ranged from
multi-scale characterization to modeling this work summarizes the state-of-the-science in this
subject. Topics include: modification of thermodynamics and kinetics in small pores.
chemo-mechanical processes and how they affect porosity evolution in geological media. small
angle neutron scattering (SANS) techniques. how isotopic gradients across fluid-mineral
boundaries can develop and how these provide insight into pore-scale processes. Information on
an important class of models referred to as pore network and much more. The material in this
book is accessible for graduate students researchers and professionals in the earth material
environmental hydrological and biological sciences. The pore scale is readily recognizable to
geochemists and yet in the past it has not received a great deal of attention as a distinct
scale or environment that is associated with its own set of questions and challenges. Is the
pore scale merely an environment in which smaller scale (molecular) processes aggregate or are
there emergent phenomena unique to this scale? Is it simply a finer-grained version of the
continuum scale that is addressed in larger-scale models and interpretations? The scale is
important because it accounts for the pore architecture within which such diverse processes as
multi-mineral reaction networks microbial community interaction and transport play out
giving rise to new geochemical behavior that might not be understood or predicted by
considering smaller or larger scales alone.
