Effects of Amino Acids on Iron-Silicate Chemical Garden Precipitation.

Understanding the structure and behavior of chemical gardens is of interest for materials science, for understanding organic-mineral interactions, and for simulating geological mineral structures in hydrothermal systems on Earth and other worlds. Herein, we explored the effects of amino acids on inorganic chemical garden precipitate systems of iron chloride and sodium silicate to determine if/how the addition of organics can affect self-assembling morphologies or crystal growth. Amino acids affect chemical garden growth and morphology at the macro-scale and at the nanoscale.