About

David Veblen earned his PhD from Harvard University. His research interests include mineralogy and crystallography.

Research topics

• Geology
• Materials science
• Mineralogy
• Crystallography
• Geochemistry

Selected publications

• Crystal Chemistry of Toxic Metal Sequestration in Rock-Forming Minerals (Final Report)

  2019-11-12

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This document is a narrative describing research and publications enabled by 25 years of Department of Energy funding under grant DE-FG02-89ER14074. This narrative is intended to be readable by scientifically literate members of the public and our federal government. Technical details of this research are described fully in the publications cited at the end. If all of this work can be boiled down to a single question, it would be this: Can common minerals in soil and rock absorb and stop toxic and radioactive metals in groundwater? The simplistic answer is Yes, but the question and its many implications are far too complicated to answer with a single word. Although my colleagues and I have completed this research, the many new questions raised by the project should provide fertile soil for researchers of a new generation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• PETER BUSECK'S PIONEERING ROLE IN UNDERSTANDING MICROSTRUCTURES IN MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2019-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Transmission electron microscopy, defects, and exsolution in rock-forming minerals

  Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland eBooks · 2015-04-05 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The EMU book series or notes, as they are called, were introduced to provide university teachers with up-to-date reviews in important, rapidly evolving areas of mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry. They are also meant to introduce scientists into special and often interdisciplinary fields of research. In this regard, a volume on solid solutions is current and sorely needed. The solid Earth, as well as many meteorites and the other solid planets, consists for the most part of mineral solid solutions. Research on solid solutions is extremely broad encompassing work in physics and chemistry, metallurgy, materials science and, last but not least, mineralogy and petrology. Hence, because the theme is so strongly interdisciplinary in nature, the workshop was organised to include solid state physicists, physical chemists, crystallographers, mineralogists and petrologists. The various chapters reflect some of this diversity and show what mineralogy has become. Experimental investigations in mineralogy now routinely include different types of spectroscopies along with more traditional phase equilibrium, X-ray diffraction, calorimetry, and TEM methods. There have also been new and impressive developments in theory and computation. Many computational approaches relating to the study of solid solutions, for example, the Cluster Variation Method or Monte Carlo simulations, have been brought in from materials science, chemistry and physics. It can be concluded that the traditional or historical, and perhaps artificial, boundaries between the various disciplines are disappearing. Many current research efforts in mineralogy are similar to those in chemistry, materials science and physics.

  PublisherDOI

• Incipient Phyllosilicate Structures in Synthetic Mg-Silicates Hydrated in a Humid Chamber

  M&PSA · 2011-09-01

  articleSenior author
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• Extended Defects and Vacancy Non-Stoichiometry in Rock-Forming Minerals

  Geophysical monograph · 2011-09-09 · 6 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Extended defects in minerals, both linear and planar, can have geochemically and geophysically important consequences. Whereas point defects can be investigated fruitfully with theoretical methods, transmission electron microscopy provides an important experimental tool for studying extended defects. In at least some cases, there may be a dynamic chemical relationship between point defect concentrations and the length or area of dislocations or planar defects in a crystal. Many solid-state reactions take place by mechanisms involving the nucleation and propagation of dislocations or planar defects. Extended defects also may alter the diffusion properties of minerals, especially important in the case of replacement reactions. Substantial non-stoichiometry resulting from the substitution of large proportions of vacancies on cation sites is a common feature in a wide variety of important rock-forming minerals and may provide an opportunity for studying the detailed structural properties of vacancies.

  PublisherDOI

• Polytype and polymorph identification of finely divided aluminous dioctahedral mica individual crystals with SAED. Kinematical and dynamical electron diffraction

  Physics and Chemistry of Minerals · 2011-02-11 · 7 citations

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• Mineralogy, morphology, and textural relationships in coatings on quartz grains in sediments in a quartz-sand aquifer

  Journal of Contaminant Hydrology · 2011-02-13 · 22 citations

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• Determination of manganese valence states in (Mn3+, Mn4+) minerals by electron energy-loss spectroscopy

  American Mineralogist · 2010-11-01 · 73 citations

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  International audience

  PublisherDOI

• Uranyl phosphate sheet reconstruction during dehydration of metatorbernite [Cu(UO2)2(PO4)2{middle dot}8H2O]

  American Mineralogist · 2010-08-01 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  The metatorbernite [Cu(UO2)2(PO4)2·8H2O] structure comprises autunite-type sheets of cornersharing uranyl square bipyramids and phosphate tetrahedra, with the interlayer region occupied by Cu2+ ions and molecular water. Previous studies have shown that heating induces stepwise dehydration and reduction in basal spacing. Structures of the lower hydrates have not been determined previously because suitable single crystals of these phases have yet to be prepared.

  PublisherDOI

• Characterization of Al-Si ordering state in an alkali feldspar using atom location by channeling-enhanced microanalysis (ALCHEMI)

  American Mineralogist · 2009-12-23 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  Atom location by channeling-enhanced microanalysis (ALCHEMI) was used to determine the occupancy of Al atoms in the T1o site (t1o) of alkali feldspar. Building on the method demonstrated by previous research, analytical electron microscopy proves to be a viable technique for fully characterizing the Al-Si ordering state in the feldspar framework. We applied this method to orthoclase from Itrongay, Madagascar, and to its heated counterpart. Our preliminary results give 0.74 and 0.37 as 2t1 (=t1o + t1m) and t1o, respectively, for the original orthoclase, vs. 0.54 and 0.28 for heated orthoclase. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments have been performed, and the results agree with our ALCHEMI measurements. This new method promises to help resolve some complex issues relating ordering paths, for example, twinning in feldspars and domain intergrowth in plagioclase.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Nanoscale Structure and Chemistry of Minerals and Mineral Coatings

  NSF · $294k · 2004–2006

Frequent coauthors

• Kathleen J. Kingma

  Medtronic (United States)

  24 shared

• Peter J. Heaney

  Park University

  22 shared

• Russell J. Hemley

  University of Illinois Chicago

  22 shared

• David C. Elbert

  Johns Hopkins University

  20 shared

• Robert M. Hazen

  Carnegie Institution for Science

  19 shared

• Kenneth J. T. Livi

  Johns Hopkins University

  18 shared

• L. W. Finger

  18 shared

• C. T. Prewitt

  University of North Texas

  17 shared