Deuterium in pectolite: kinetic and synthetic studies

It is known, that pectolite exhibits the lowest deuterium content among all hydrominerals. This is due to pecularities of its structure. In the present work the kinetics of extraction of crystallic water from pectolite and from muscovite is examined. In the first case preferently heavy water is expelled from the mineral and in the second case - light water. An activation energy of 60 kcal/mol may be attributed to dehydratation of both minerals. Experiments show that delta D in synthetic pectolites does not depend on the isotopic composition of surrounding water. (author)