Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-2-of-the-earth-sciences-geology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/paper-3/10/a/solution

Take base-ten logarithms and use dimensionless thermodynamic activities. The supplied concentration notation is interpreted in the ideal dilute-solution approximation, with a consistent reference concentration. Put
With pure solids and unit water activity, the reaction quotients are and . At chemical equilibrium, , so the two lines on the mineral activity diagram are
They have slopes and . Restricting the plotted silica activity to is compatible with their intersection,
Their full straight extensions are equilibrium relations for the respective phase pairs; not every extension is a stable boundary when the third mineral is available.

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