Carbonates are a group of minerals that play an essential role in several processes on planet Earth, for example in the global carbon cycle and as a product of biomineralisation. Calcite (CaCO₃) is by far the most common mineral in the carbonate group, and the stable form of carbonate at Earth surface conditions. However, calcite growth is often kinetically limited and polymorphs of calcite or hydrous calcium carbonates will form instead under certain circumstances. In this thesis, I investigate a hydrous form of calcium carbonate, ikaite (CaCO₃ · 6H₂O), which occasionally forms under conditions where normally calcite formation would be expected.

Ikaite is metastable at surface conditions and has only been observed in nature at temperatures below 7°C. In Ikka Fjord, southwest Greenland, several hundred ikaite columns occur at the bottom of the fjord. Previous studies in Ikka Fjord have shown that ikaite columns are forming above submarine springs that are extremely sodium carbonate rich (pH ~10.5). An association with the surrounding igneous rocks, which comprise nepheline syenite and carbonatite, has been suggested. In the first part of this thesis, I investigate this association. A petrographic study of rocks samples from the igneous complex showed that the combined alteration of the minerals siderite and nepheline could explain the composition of the submarine spring water, and thereby the unique formation of ikaite columns at this site.

It is from the mixture of sodium carbonate spring water and seawater that ikaite precipitates in Ikka Fjord, despite the fact that all other calcium carbonates are supersaturated in this mixture. Why ikaite precipitates and not the other forms of calcium carbonate was investigated by a series of experiments in the second and third parts of this thesis. Previous studies have suggested that ikaite was favoured by the low temperature in the fjord (<7°C) and the presence of phosphate (95- 263 μmol/kg) in the submarine spring water, which is known to inhibit calcite growth even at only trace concentrations. In the second part of this thesis, we simulated Ikka Fjord conditions in laboratory and showed that ikaite precipitation is not controlled by the presence of phosphate in the mixture. Instead, after a second series of experiments I found that it is the presence Mg in seawater that inhibits calcite growth and therefore favour ikaite precipitation.

Ikaite is metastable and at temperatures above 7°C the mineral will transform or decompose to calcite and water. The transformation can occur pseudomorphically and pseudomorphs after ikaite have been found worldwide in the sediment record. Pseudomorphs after authigenic ikaite in sediments are named glendonite, and because of the narrow temperature range of ikaite observations in nature, glendonite has been used as a paleotemperature indicator. In the fourth part of this thesis, I explore the temperature range of ikaite nucleation by a series of experiments and found that ikaite nucleation can occur up to at least 35°C. This challenges the use of glendonite as a paleotemperature indicator.