The insoluble residue test for abundance of carbonate

Among methods for determining the abundance of carbonate minerals in solid samples, dissolution in acid is appealing because it is cheap and can be quick, but it suffers from several sources of uncertainty. The weight loss due to evaporation of water can be corrected for easily by measuring the weight loss from blank vessels as well as sample vessels. However, a further correction, for excess evaporation due to heat liberated by dissolution, is desirable; we show how to calculate it. Certain puzzling results point to a need for further investigation of interfering factors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.