Nanogeoscience in ore systems research: Principles, methods, and applications Introduction and preface to the special issue

摘要

This special issue of Ore Geology Reviews focuses on the application of "nanogeoscience" to ore deposits research. The idea to this issue was born after the Goldschmidt Conference 2010 in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we found that the papers presented in the special session "Mineral nanoparticles and nanominerals in ore systems and their environmental geochemistry" clustered within a selected list of topics now commonly known as "nanogeoscience". As pointed out by Hochella et al. (2008), ten years ago the word "nanogeoscience" was not in general use. Today, entire technical sections of high-impact geosciences journals are devoted to this topic, and an increasing number of papers are being submitted to leading conferences each year. As an example, a decade before there were 4 talks on nanogeoscience at the Goldschmidt Conference in Oxford while at Knoxville in 2010 there were 120 and the "nano" sessions ran all week (Tremblay, 2010).So, the question is: what is nanogeoscience, and why is it relevant to ore deposits research? The prefix "nano" means one-billionth (10~(-9)), and therefore, nanogeoscience studies the properties of natural materials at the nanoscale, i.e., in the size range of approximately 1 nm to 100 nm (Fig. 1). In a seminal article written nearly ten years ago, Hochella (2002) highlighted the importance of studying minerals at the nanoscale, recognizing that many earth materials exist in the nanodo-main as minute particles or thin films, especially in low-temperature environments, but also in mid- to high-temperature geologic and planetary settings.