A laboratory study has been used to investigate relationships between salts and contour scaling—a weathering feature commonly observed on rock surfaces in salt-rich environments. Surface disaggregation and essentially surface-parallel cracks were produced in sandstone blocks using 10 per cent solutions of sodium sulphate and magnesium sulphate applied daily to single exposed surfaces for sixty days. A control block soaked once in saturated magnesium sulphate and subsequently wetted daily with distilled water showed extensive surface disaggregation, but no cracking. Both surface disaggregation and subsurface cracking were associated with relative concentrations of microcrystalline salt. A tentative model of contour scaling is proposed, which involves linking together potential cracks by salt-induced fracturing of intervening, crack-stopping grains. Further control blocks treated respectively with 10 per cent and saturated sodium chloride showed no evidence of subsurface cracking and only limited surface disaggregation of the ‘saturated’ block. 相似文献
‘The wick effect’ is the upward migration of saline solutions into rocks and their subsequent crystallization. Lower Carboniferous sandstone blocks of rectangular shape have been subjected to this process in the laboratory using a range of salt types, a range of salt concentrations, and various mixtures of salts. Some treatments produced severe disintegration, notably sodium carbonate and a mixture of sodium carbonate with magnesium sulphate, whereas other salts (including sodium chloride and gypsum) were much less effective. The debris produced by this experimental salt weathering included appreciable quantities of silt-sized material, which were analysed with a laser granulometer. Such material could provide a source for desert loess. 相似文献
To try to resolve the conflicts surrounding the influence of salts on frost weathering, chalk cubes were immersed, separately, in solutions of sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, and magnesium sulphate at concentrations of 5·5 per cent and 12·5 per cent, in a mixed solution of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, and in distilled water. The cubes were subjected to six freeze-thaw cycles with temperatures ranging from either +15 to — 10°C or + 15 to — 30°C. The results confirm that frost weathering can be enhanced by the presence of certain salts, but the degree of enhancement depends both on the concentration and type of salt and on the intensity of the freeze-thaw regime. Some, but not all, of the results can be explained by the phase changes that occur during the freezing of the salt solutions. 相似文献
Honeycomb weathering has been observed in a Carboniferous sandstone at a coastal location near Ballycastle on the north coast of Northern Ireland. Specimens of this sandstone have been analysed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometry. Results reveal that calcium sulphate (gypsum) is the only salt present and is found only at and immediately below the rock surface. SEM observations suggest that crystallization of salts in pores could easily dislodge quartz grains to promote granular disintegration, whilst etching of quartz grain surfaces attests to chemical weathering activity within the rock However, the reason for the development of the honeycomb pattern is not known. 相似文献
Experiments are described in which chalk cubes were soaked in solutions of either sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, or magnesium sulphate at concentrations of 5·5 per cent and 12·5 per cent, or in a mixed solution of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate or in distilled water. After removal of excess liquid, the cubes were subjected to six freeze–thaw cycles with temperatures ranging from either +15 to ?10°C or +15 to ?30°C. The results confirm that frost weathering can be enhanced by the presence of certain salts, but the extent of weathering was much less than that previously reported for samples frozen totally immersed in the same liquids. Evidence is presented which suggests that salt crystallization is the major weathering process operative when non–immersed samples are frozen but a combination of frost and salt weathering operates when fully immersed samples are frozen. 相似文献
Preliminary results from a continuing series of laboratory experiments designed to examine the combined effects of salt and frost weathering indicate that some salts greatly enhance the breakdown of rocks by frost. Samples of Ardingly Sandstone from southeast England were soaked in saturated solutions of sodium chloride or sodium sulphate and subjected to alternating cycles of freezing and thawing. Rapid disintegration of the sandstone occurred within twenty cycles, in each of the salt solutions. In contrast, samples subjected to freezing and thawing in deionized water suffered very little damage unless they were saturated under vacuum. When samples were subjected to twenty cycles of wetting and drying at temperatures above 0°C, those soaked in deionised water or sodium chloride suffered no appreciable damage but those soaked in sodium sulphate rapidly disintegrated. Tentative explanations of these results are offered. The enhancement of frost weathering by salt appears to have been overlooked by many writers yet it is likely to be an important geomorphological process in those areas of mid and high latitudes where rocks are saturated with sodium salts. 相似文献
A laboratory simulation of salt weathering was used to ascertain the effects of sodium sulphate and sodium carbonate under ‘Negev’ conditions using a single immersion technique. Three main points were addressed: what are the grain size and textural characteristics of the debris liberated from limestones and a sandstone, what do scanning electron microscope observations of the weathered samples tell us about the decay processes involved, and how does the rate of debris liberation change during the course of 100 cycles? The grain size characteristics of the liberated debris tended to be multimodal and were related to the original petrological characteristics of the rock. Large amounts of fines were produced which are believed to be analogous to the ‘rock flour’ of arid areas. Blistering was also observed. Scanning electron microscope analysis revealed differences in the style of attack for different rock types and salt treatments, and revealed the pattern of salt crystallization in pores and the nature of cracking. The rate of debris liberation tended to decline or remain constant through time. The reasons for this remain obscure, but it is evident that diurnal cycles of temperature and humidity change can cause continuing rock weathering long after the initial input of salt to the rock has taken place. 相似文献
Rock texture has a critical influence on the way rocks weather. The most important textural factors affecting weathering are grain size and the presence of cracks and stylolites. These discontinuities operate as planes of mechanical weakness at which chemical weathering is enhanced. However, it is unclear how different rock textures impact weathering rates and the size of weathered grains. Here, we use a numerical model to simulate weathering of rocks possessing grain boundaries, cracks, and stylolites. We ran simulations with either synthetic or natural patterns of discontinuities. We found that for all patterns, weathering rates increase with discontinuity density. When the density was <~25%, the weathering rate of synthetic patterns followed the order: grid > honeycomb > Voronoi > brick wall. For higher values, all weathering rates were similar. We also found that weathering rates decreased as the tortuosity of the pattern increased. Moreover, we show that textural patterns strongly impact the size distributions of detached grains. Rocks with an initial monomodal grain size distribution produce weathered fragments that are normally distributed. In contrast, rocks with an initial log-normal size distribution produce weathered grains that are log-normally distributed. For the natural patterns, weathering produced lower modality distributions. 相似文献
Samples of concrete were subjected in an environmental cabinet to six different diurnal cycles of temperature and humidity change representative of desert surface conditions in the presence of a range of saturated salt solutions. The samples were not subjected to repeated immersion or continuous partial immersion as has been the case in most previous experiments. Breakdown did occur nonetheless. The two most effective cycles were one from Egypt (with a very high daytime maximum) and one from the Negev (with high nocturnal humidity conditions). Cycles with relatively modest temperature and humidity cycles were ineffective in causing debris liberation. 相似文献
The results of a series of experiments are reported in this paper which were designed to differentiate between the forces of crystal growth and hydration in salt weathering, using a single salt-hydrate system (sodium sulphate), five contrasting rock types, and several diurnal temperature-relative humidity cycles which permitted or inhibited these processes and simulated ground surface climates in hot, arid environments. It was shown that hydration of sodium sulphate is an effective mechanism of rock disintegration but that it is significantly less destructive than crystal growth pressure. Crystallization of thenardite (Na2SO4) is, in turn, more effective in rock weathering than the crystal growth of mirabilite (Na2SO4.10H2O). In general, rates of disintegration were most rapid where the diurnal temperature range was extreme and relative humidity lowest. 相似文献
Rectangular blocks of York Stone and of concrete placed on a sodium chloride sabkha in southern Tunisia for six years suffered very severe breakdown, thereby indicating the power of salt weathering as a process in sabkha environments. 相似文献
Nearly 200 analyses of meltwaters, ice and snow from three alpine glacial sites in carbonate terrain are summarized and discussed in terms of sources of solutes and kinetic controls on the progress of weathering reactions. Most data derive from the Swiss Glacier de Tsanfleuron which is based on Cretaceous and Tertiary pure and impure limestones. Two other sites (Marmolada, Italian Dolomites and the Saskatchewan Glacier, Alberta) are based on a mixed calcitic-dolomitic substrate. Most solutes originate from carbonate dissolution; moreover, where pyrite is present its oxidation supplies significant sulphate and forces more dissolution of carbonate. The ratios Sr2+/Ca2+ and Mg2+/Ca2+ are much higher in Tsanfleuron melt-waters than local bedrock, a phenomenon that can be reproduced in the laboratory at small percentages of dissolution. These anomalous ratios are attributed to incongruent dissolution of traces of the metastable carbonates Mg-calcite and aragonite. These phases also provide Na+ to solution. K+ is argued to originate mainly by ion-exchange on clays with solute Ca2+. Quartz and very minor feldspar dissolution are also inferred. Locally enhanced input from atmospheric sources is recognized by high Cl? and associated Na+. The progress of weathering reactions has been evaluated by the trends in the data, computer modelling and some simple laboratory experiments. The most dilute samples show a trend towards removal of CO2 to low partial pressures (c. 10?5.5 atmospheres), reflecting initially rapid carbonate dissolution and relatively slow dissolution of gaseous CO2. Later addition of atmospheric CO2 or acid from pyrite oxidation allows further carbonate dissolution, but solutions show a wide range of saturations, and CO2 pressures as high as 10?2.2 where pyrite oxidation is important. In a carbonate terrain, measurement of electroconductivity (corrected to 25°C) and alkalinity in the field allows the following preliminary deductions (where meq stands for milliequivalents): where S is the minimum meq(Ca2+ + Mg2+) produced by simple dissolution of carbonate unconnected with pyrite oxidation. As with any proxy method, these deductions do not remove the need for chemical analysis of waters in a given study area. 相似文献
下载免费PDF全文