2026-10-10T06:29:50Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33977826 2026-09-23T20:16:52Z category_1 category_4 category_7 category_13 category_16 category_45 category_734 category_132 portal_63 item_type_2 month_year_09_2026

Mineralogical Heterogeneity Controls Dissolution-Front Instability and Reactive-Transport Scaling in Porous Media Kai Li (205203) Ran Hu (4989065) Zhibing Yang (9514091) Yi-Feng Chen (368028) Biophysics Biochemistry Medicine Genetics Physiology Sociology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Infectious Diseases suppress flow focusing remain consistent across constitutive relations developed random mineral distributions evolving pore topology drive dissolution toward bulk dissolution rate reactive surface area provide empirical relationships mineral media empirical porosity dimensional pore based relationships dissolution processes use three uniform pattern transport scaling solute transport results improve reactive properties promote wormholing mineralogical heterogeneity law form front stability front instability dependent effects converging trend Mineral dissolution in multicomponent porous media involves coupled mineral–water reactions, solute transport, and evolving pore topology. However, most continuum reactive-transport models still rely on constitutive relations developed for single-mineral media, and the influence of insoluble mineral phases remains poorly understood. Here, we use three-dimensional pore-scale reactive transport simulations to investigate how the insoluble mineral fraction affects dissolution patterns and the evolution of hydraulic and reactive properties. Mineralogical heterogeneity has regime-dependent effects on dissolution-front stability. At relatively low Péclet numbers, moderate insoluble mineral fractions enhance concentration heterogeneity and promote wormholing, whereas larger fractions disrupt connected reactive pathways and suppress flow focusing. At relatively high Péclet numbers, insoluble phases monotonically weaken preferential channel development and drive dissolution toward a more uniform pattern. Mineralogical heterogeneity also alters permeability evolution. As the insoluble mineral fraction increases, the permeability–porosity relationship becomes progressively more linear in log–log space and approaches a power-law form, while the maximum permeability–porosity exponent decreases and shows a converging trend. We further find that the reactive surface area and bulk dissolution rate can be described by empirical porosity-based relationships, which remain consistent across the tested Péclet numbers, Damköhler numbers, and random mineral distributions. These results improve our understanding of dissolution processes in mineralogically heterogeneous porous media and provide empirical relationships for continuum-scale reactive transport modeling. 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z Dataset Media 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.6c00200.s002 https://figshare.com/articles/media/Mineralogical_Heterogeneity_Controls_Dissolution-Front_Instability_and_Reactive-Transport_Scaling_in_Porous_Media/33977826 CC BY-NC 4.0