Calcium carbonate is one of the most abundant minerals at the Earth’s surface and plays a large role in the chemistry of aquatic environments, as well as being the main constituent of carbonate oil reservoirs which account for over half of the world’s remaining oil reserves. Key to understanding the oil release mechanisms is adsorption of organics at the calcite surface.In this proposal, we will study the adsorption behaviour onto the calcite (10-14) cleavage surface; sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), and 4-octylbenzoic acid as representatives of key functionalities important in oil recovery.