The Geochemist's Workbench® Computer Program

Lopaka (Rob) Lee and Martin Goldhaber

The USGS Mineral Resources Program was part of a consortium that supported the development of geochemical modeling software "The Geochemists Workbench® (GWB)" by supporting and advising the activities of the Hydrogeology program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

GWB is a set of software tools for manipulating chemical reactions, calculating stability diagrams and the equilibrium states of natural waters, tracing reaction processes, modeling reactive transport, and plotting the results of these calculations.

Activities included providing advisory support, beta testing, and employing the GWB software in research activities.

REACT. Calculates speciation in aqueous fluids and traces reaction paths involving fluids, minerals, and gases. Predicts fractionation of stable isotopes during reaction processes.	Some Features of React Reaction paths Kinetic rate laws Kinetics of oxidation and reduction reactions Catalysis on mineral surfaces Use of surface complexes and gas species as catalyzing and inhibiting species in all rate laws Isotope fractionation Sorption and surface complexation A full ion exchange model Langmuir isotherms Sorption according to distribution coefficients (Kd's) Constant capacitance and constant potential models for surface complexation Brine chemistry, "Pitzer equations"
GTPLOT. Renders the results of React calculations graphically.
ACT2. Calculates and plots activity-activity diagrams; projects traces of reaction paths.
TACT. Calculates and plots temperature-activity diagrams; projects traces of reaction paths.
RXN. Balances chemical reactions; calculates equilibrium constants, and equilibrium equations and temperatures.

Products

Databases and Computer Programs

USGS Support for The Geochemist's Workbench®, a set of software tools developed by the University of Illinois for manipulating chemical reactions, calculating stability diagrams and the equilibrium states of natural waters, tracing reaction processes, modeling reactive transport, and plotting the results of these calculations (for more information see http://www.geology.illinois.edu/Hydrogeology/hydro_gwb.htm) (Goldhaber and Lee)

The use of firm, trade, and brand names is for identification purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. government.

Contact Information

Lopaka (Rob) Lee
P.O. Box 51 Crater Rim Road
Hawaii National Park, HI 96718-0051
Phone: (808) 967-8883
Email: rclee@usgs.gov

Martin Goldhaber
Box 25046 MS 964 Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0046
Phone: (303) 236-1521
Email: mgold@usgs.gov

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