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Encyclopedia of Geobiology pp 223–227Cite as

Calcite Precipitation, Microbially Induced

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Microbially induced calcite precipitation describes the formation of calcium carbonate minerals from a solution due to the presence of microbial cells, biosynthetic products, or metabolic activity.

Calcium carbonate precipitation

The most basic requirement for the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals, calcite, and aragonite is that the product of the concentrations of calcium [Ca2+] and carbonate ions [CO3 2−] exceeds the solubility product of calcite (Equation 1) and aragonite, respectively.

$$[{\rm Ca}^{2 +} ][{{\rm CO}_3}^{2 -} ] > 10^{-8.35}$$
(1)

The solubility of carbonate minerals depends on the temperature and pressure, decreasing with increasing temperatures and increasing with the increasing pressure. When a solution is in equilibrium with carbon dioxide, [CO3 2−] is determined by pH. In solutions that are undersaturated or not highly saturated, such as modern seawater, the biological activity can strongly control the precipitation of CaCO3....

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Tanja Bosak

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Joachim Reitner  & Volker Thiel  & 

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Bosak, T. (2011). Calcite Precipitation, Microbially Induced. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_41

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