The Road Traveled

The 1960 s can be viewed as the golden age of sedimentary carbonate geochemistry. This golden age was in no small part due to the gold which started to flow rapidly and relatively easily into university research. There was an 

It is hard to say why the study of sedimentary carbonate geochemistry started the 1960 s with such vigor and ended the decade in such a chaotic manner. The tumultuous nature of the times, sudden infusion of previously undreamed of levels of funding, and rapid addition of new investigators to the field certainly were all part of it. However, it also seems probable that frustration with the unexpected complexities of the chemical behavior of carbonates and failure to arrive at solutions of basic problems also contributed substantially to the chaotic state of the field as the 1960 s ended. These were the wild adolescent years of the field. 

The interaction of subsurface waters with lithified sedimentary carbonates became a major focus of research in the 1970 s. Efforts were made not only to sample and analyze these waters and the associated carbonates, but also to construct increasingly complex models of their interactions. These models were primarily aimed at establishing how a carbonate-aqueous system evolves through time and incorporated hydrologic considerations. 

A major change was also occurring during this period in the field of carbonate sedimentary petrology where there was an increasing awareness of the need to apply more sophisticated approaches to the study and interpretation of 

A major increase in attention to the CO2 problem during this decade also stimulated considerable activity. Much of this activity was devoted to modeling current systems, such as those described in Chapter 9. While a major portion of this activity focused on the current environment and human impact, the CO2 problem also sparked interest in trying to understand long-term processes, such as the role of sedimentary carbonates in the evolution of the Earth s atmosphere. 

---

Rajeshwar, K. Solar Energy Conversion and Environmental Remediation Using Inorganic Semiconductor-Liquid Interfaces The Road Traveled and the Way Forward. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2011, 2 (11), 1301-1309. 

---