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A number of recent studies have identified and begun to quantify increased susceptibility of the infrastructure to climate change--induced carbonation of reinforced concrete. In this paper, the results of a study are presented which uses an updated empirical model to predict the diffusion coefficient of carbon dioxide (CO2) in concrete and thereafter, predict carbonation depths for a number of urban environments in the United States. Data from newer climate forecasts from the 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report are used to generate predictions for carbonation depths in four U.S. cities of varying geographic and climatic conditions (Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, New York City). Results confirm that carbonation depths will increase in the future because of climate change. The magnitude of the increase is dependent on the climate-change scenario considered and the geographic location of the city. Whether or not the increases will require building code changes to increase concrete cover or improve concrete quality will be dependent on actual construction practices for the city in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal and chemical gradients at the boundary of a subducting plate and suprasubduction mantle lead to a variety of poorly understood geologic processes. This paper reports the results of experiments simulating interaction between olivine ( Ol, mantle analog) and carbonated glaucophane schist ( Gls, analog of the upper layer of the subducted crust) under the P-t conditions of a 'hot' subduction zone. The experiments were carried out at a pressure of P = 25 kbar under temperature gradient conditions ( t = 720°C and t = 1000°C) and at a constant temperature of t = 800°C corresponding to the boundary between the materials in the gradient experiment. A comparison of experimental data obtained using two different methods showed that the temperature gradient experiment reproduced the character of schist-olivine interaction under isothermal conditions and provided additional information on the effect of temperature on mineral reactions. Orthopyroxene occurs in the experimental products in different textural positions, forming a layer (with or without magnesite) at the base of the olivine zone or separate grains and intergrowths with magnesite at the boundary of olivine grains. The development of orthopyroxene and carbonate redeposition are described by reactions between olivine and aqueous fluid components, SiO and CO, at $$a_{SiO_2 } = 0.23$$ and $$a_{CO_2 } = 0.07$$. The calculated silica content in the fluid under such thermodynamic conditions is 0.39 mol/kg HO. Given these parameters, the estimated SiO flux at a depth of ∼80 km from the downgoing slab of the Cascadia subduction zone in the northwester United States is 180 t/yr at a very moderate (for the considered depth level) aqueous fluid flux of one million moles per year per kilometer. Modern concepts on convective flows initiated by a subducting slab in the mantle wedge allow us to suggest that orthopyroxene-enriched ultramafic rocks must occur both above the areas of the release of volatile components and silica from the slab and at deeper levels of subduction zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]