Creating and Destroying Limestone Dr. Stacey Verardo Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Paleoclimatology Dr. Julia Nord Mineralogy, Soil Science Girl Scouts FOCUS middle school camp. (Females Of Color Underrepresented in Science).

How to create limestone (calcite) Put about 2.0 cm of limewater in a test tube About 1 inch This is our “ocean” Get a straw and blow into the lime water Stop when something happens… What happened? http://sciwebhop.net/sci_web/science/ks3/worksheets/word/default.asp?topic=8B

Why is it going white? What do you “blow “ out? Why? http://www.sodahead.com/living/breathing-out-exhaling/

Why is it going white? Calcium and Carbonate Lets watch it for a while. Can you see the solid sinking? Precipitation. Gas + liquid = solid http://chemstuff.co.uk/ http://www.calpoly.edu/~bio/bio161

Dissolving calcite Next step Keep blowing into the limewater till something else happens. What happens? http://sciwebhop.net/sci_web/science/ks3/worksheets/word/default.asp?topic=8B

Why is it going clear? Lets watch it for a while. It goes colorless!! This is what happens when too much CO2 gets into the ocean http://chemstuff.co.uk/

Ocean Acidification https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxPwbhFeZSw North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Discussion of experiment How do we use it?

Levels of exploration Middle school / scouting High school / scouting Introductory physical geology Introductory historical geology Mineralogy Climatology

All these are calcite Shells are CaCO3 calcite Egg shells are calcite Stalactites and stalagmites are calcite galaxybackground.com http://goodmusicbrighterchildren.com/?p=2994 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Witchs_Finger_Carlsbad_Caverns.jpg

Middle school / scouting Calcite / limestone is CaCO3 Ca – Calcium C O H What do you breathe in? What do you breathe out? Where does the C come from?

Experiments with limestone and Ocean acidification Limestone is 10% of all sedimentary rocks formed of calcite CaCO3 Calcium carbonate Mainly formed in the oceans

Too much carbon dioxide? Excess CO2 Makes carbonic acid H2CO3

It goes colorless! Is the calcite dissolving? If so, why? Did you know you can dissolve a chicken egg shell in vinegar? What is happening to the amount of CO2 What happened in the movie? How can we stop this happening?

High school / introductory geology

What is limewater? Lime water is calcium oxide dissolved in water. CaO and H2O http://www.americanelements.com/caoxp.html Also called “lime or “quicklime” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_%28material%29

What is limewater? Lime water is calcium oxide dissolved in water. CaO and H2O These react to form Calcium hydroxide. Ca(OH)2 http://www.americanelements.com/caoxp.html Also called “lime or “quicklime” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_%28material%29

Carbonic Acid breaks apart: Bicarbonate is formed and H+ increases

Historical Geology

Limestone – White Cliffs of Dover limestone (chalk) from the past http://kids.britannica.com

Limestone today – The Bahamas warm and wet environments. Image NASA MODIS

Limestone in VA where is limestone forming today? http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/sinkholes.shtml

Limestone in VA https://perso-sdt.univ-brest.fr/~jacdev/ens/pal_brit05.htm

Caves

Invertebrate Paleontology Paleoclimatology Increase in CO2 in the atmosphere leads to the increase in CO2 in the oceans. This leads to Ocean Acidification and the dissolution of marine materials composed of CaCO2.

Invertebrate Paleontology Paleoclimatology Periods of dissolution have occurred naturally within the the geologic record, from variations in ocean chemistry. Dissolution is now occurring at a much faster rate due to anthropogenic factors.

Mineralogy calcite Uniaxial mineral lab – calcite and quartz Evolution of minerals over time