Weathering and Soils

Weathering – changes that take place in minerals and rocks at or near the surface
of the earth in response to the atmosphere, water and plant and animal life.
• Weathering is brought about by marked changes of temperature, moisture
soaking into the ground, ceaseless activity of living things, etc.
• It plays a vital role in the rock cycle by producing new materials for new rocks.

Some definitions:
1) Bedrock – the solid rock underlying all parts of the land surface.
2) Regolith – soil and loose fragments that may cover the bedrock
3) Soil – surface accumulation of sand, clay and decayed plant material (called
humus)
Types of weathering
1) Mechanical weathering – also called disintegration process by which a rock
is broken down into smaller and smaller fragments as the result of energy
developed by physical forces.
a) Expansion and contraction – changes in T, if they are rapid and great
enough, may bring about the mechanical weathering of a rock.
 Weathering and Soils
- The rapid and violent heating of the exterior of a rock causes it to expand,
leading to flaking and splitting off of fragments (example, forest fires, lightning).
- There is debate as to whether diurnal or seasonal changes in temperature affects
rocks considerably.
b) Frost action – When water trickles
down into the cracks, crevices and
pores of a rock mass and freezes, its
volume increases about 9%. This
expansion sets up pressures directly
outward from the inside of a rock and
frost wedging results. A second type
of frost action is frost heaving, which
occurs when moisture absorbed by
loose soil or fragments freezes at
shallow levels, heaving the ground
above.
 Weathering and Soils

Granite boulder fractured

by frost-wedging

c) Exfoliation – process in which curved plates of rock are stripped from a larger
rock mass by physical forces.
- it develops two types of landscape features:
 Weathering and Soils
1) exfoliation domes – joints parallel to the surface of a rock mass may develop.
This may be accomplished through exhumation of the deeper portions of the
rock mass by erosion (e.g., sheeting).
 Weathering and Soils
2) spheroidally weathered boulders – boulders that have been rounded by the
spalling off of a series of concentric shells of rock. The shells develop from
pressures set up within the rock by when minerals become altered (or chemically
weathered) and expand. Rocks that have considerable amount of feldspar are
susceptible to spheroidal weathering because of the expansion of these minerals
during chemical weathering.
 Weathering and Soils
c) Other types of weathering
Plants also play a role in
mechanical weathering. The
roots of trees and shrubs
growing in rock crevices
sometimes exert sufficient
pressure to dislodge
previously loosened
fragments of rock.
The mechanical mixing of
soil by ants, worms and
rodents, makes the soil more
susceptible to chemical
weathering.
 Weathering and Soils
2. Chemical weathering – also called decomposition; more complex process
involving chemical alteration or changes, transforming the original material into
something different. These changes either involve the transformation of a mineral to
clay or another mineral or the solution of soluble minerals.
Factors influencing chemical weathering
1) Particle size – The greater the surface area of a particle, the more vulnerable it is
to chemical attack., because substances can only react chemically with the surface
when they come into contact with each other. The finer the particles of a an
aggregate becomes, the greater the surface area.
 Weathering and Soils
2) Composition of original
material – Minerals respond at
different rates to weathering
3) Climate – rocks respond to to
different climate conditions
Warmer, moister climates have the
most weathering. Heat & Water
speed up all chemical reactions.
This is the most important factor
in weathering.
4) Moisture – when moisture is
accompanied by warmth, rate of
chemical weathering is faster.
5) Plants and animals – they
produce oxygen carbon dioxide
and certain acids that enter into
chemical reactions with earth
materials.
 Weathering and Soils
Chemical weathering of minerals
1) Quartz – very slowly affected, relatively stable mineral. Thus, when a rock with
high quartz content decomposes, a great deal of unaltered quartz is left behind.
Chemical weathering helps in the rounding of quartz grains.
2) K-Feldspars – Feldspars are among the first minerals to break down under
chemical attack. The precise process is not yet fully understood, but the general
direction and results of the process seem fairly clear
- Aluminum silicate, derived from the chemical breakdown of feldspar, combines
with water to form hydrous aluminum silicate minerals, or clays.
Decomposition of orthoclase:
water and carbon dioxide may combine to form carbonic acids, which later
ionizes to form hydrogen and bicarbonate ions
 Weathering and Soils
When orthoclase comes in contact with the hydrogen ion, the following reaction
takes place:

Products of orthoclase weathering:

a) Clay – the H ion from the water forces the potassium out of the orthoclase,
disrupting its crystal structure. The H ion combines aluminum silicate to form
the new clay mineral. The mineral undergoes hydration, the process by which
waer combines with other molecules.
- clays are very fine, sometimes colloidal (0.2-1 mm)
Types of clay:
a) kaolinite – derived from the Chinese kao-ling, or “high hill”, the name of the
hill from which the first kaolinite shipped to Europe came.
b) montmorillonite – first described from a town in central France,
Montmorillon.
c) illite – named by state geologists of Illinois in honor of their state.
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The clay minerals are like micas, built-up of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, linked
together in sheets. These sheets combine with sheets composed of aluminum atoms
and hydroxyl molecules, so we also call the clay minerals as hydrous aluminum
silicates.

The action of plants may also

bring about the chemical
breakdown of orthoclase. A
plant root in the soil is negatively
charged and surrounded by H
ions. If there is orthoclase
nearby, these positive ions will
react with the potassium of the
orthoclase and will result in clay
formation described above.
 Weathering and Soils
b) Potassium ions – some of the potassium is carried away by water, some are
absorbed by plants, and some are absorbed by clay minerals or taken into their
crystal structure.
c) Silica - appears as silica in solution or finely divided quartz of colloidal size.

3) Plagioclase – the weathering products are similar to those of K-feldspars, but

instead of K, either Na or Ca carbonate is formed. These are soluble in water, and
may eventually reach the sea.

4) Ferromagnesians – they produce similar products when weathered: clay, soluble

salts, and silica. The presence of Fe and Mg, however, makes the formation of
other minerals possible. Fe may combine with O to form hematite (Fe2O3), a
deep red color mineral (from the Greek word haimatités or “bloodlike”). The Fe
may unite with O and a hydroxyl ion to form goethite (FeO(OH)) (named after
the German scientist Goethe). Another substance produced is limonite or plain
rust. It is not a true mineral because its composition is not fixed. Mg is removed
in a solution as a carbonate or taken up in illite and montmorillonite clays.
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Chemical weaterhing products of some rock-forming minerals
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Rates of weathering
-Some rocks weather rapidly and others only slowly. Rate of weathering is governed by
the rock type, mineral composition, moisture, temperature, topography, and plant and
animal activity

Rate of mineral weathering

Minerals commonly found in igneous rocks can be arranged according to the order in
which they are chemically decomposed at the surface. The following are general
observations:
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Theses suggest a pattern similar to that of the Bowen’s reaction series, but with one
important difference:
In weathering, the successive minerals formed do not react with one another as they
do within a solidifying magma. The relative resistance of these minerals reflect the
difference between the environment of their formation and the weathering
environment at the surface.
We can thus qualify our definition of weathering as:
The response of materials that were once in equilibrium within the earth’s
crust to new conditions at or near the contact with air, water and living matter.
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Rate of weathering of minerals in relation to Bowen’s reaction series
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Rate of weathering also depends on the rock’s composition, texture, structures
present, etc.
Limestone tombstone, 1818

Slate tombstone, 1699

 Obelisk in
New York
Effect of climate: 1973

Obelisk in
Egypt
1880
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Soil – the residue of weathering
Weathering plays a crucial role in soil development
Assignment:
1) Illustrate an idealized soil profile, and label and characterize the different
layers of the profile.
2) Enumerate and characterize the different soil types
3) What is the importance of soil?
Soil forms from the weathering of the rock below it. The solid rock
below is called Bedrock. The rock is exposed to wind, rain etc… The
rock breaks down over time to form soil. Soil has different layers
called Soil Horizons.
O- Horizon = the very thin surface covering (not really a layer)
A – Horizon (TOPSOIL) = dark surface soil that contains a lot of living
material and dead plant/animal remains (humus). This is the layer with all of
the nutrients needed to grow plants.
B-Horizon (SUBSOIL) = lighter colored soil with less nutrients and more clay
C-Horizon (REGOLITH) = larger rock fragments that sit on top of the
unweathered bedrock

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 There are 2 types of soil:
1. Transported
2. Residual

Transported Soils – soils that formed in one place and were transported
to their present location by glaciers. You can tell when the soil does not
chemically match the bedrock below it.

Residual Soils – soils that are located above the rocks that they formed
from. In other words, the soil chemically matches the bedrock below it,
because it is a product of that rock’s weathering over time.

Mrs. Degl 21