Chemical Weathering Of Granite

Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rock induced by reactions between rock minerals and groundwater.

Chemical weathering of granite.

5 2 chemical weathering chemical weathering results from chemical changes to minerals that become unstable when they are exposed to surface conditions. The deep red color of solis found in georgia and other warm humid regions in caused by. The reaction of feldspar minerals in granite with rainwater produces kaolinite white clay known as china clay used in the production of porcelain paper and glass. What are the products of physical and chemical weathering of granite.

Chemical weathering of rocks is a spontaneous i e irreversible thermodynamic process leading to a more stable state for natural materials under a given set of conditions e g temperature and pressure. A gravestone made of granite will therefore resist fracturing cracking and chipping longer than a sandstone marker found in the same location. For example granite and gabbro are hard rocks that are weathered only slowly. This reaction is called hydrolysis.

Hydrolysis is the chemical weathering of minerals by a mildly acidic water that forms when rains dissolves trace gases in the atmosphere. Some minerals like quartz are virtually unaffected by chemical weathering while. The remainder is 15 aluminum oxide and 10 various othe. Chemical weathering occurs when water dissolves minerals in a rock producing new compounds.

Chemical weathering can produce caves made of limestone some types of rock are not easily weathered by chemicals. Chemical weathering studies are of fundamental importance for several reasons. As demonstrated in the following reaction this causes potassium feldspar to form kaolinite with potassium ions bicarbonate and silica in solution as byproducts. Granite contains on average 75 of silicon dioxide quartz and feldspar various metal aluminosilicates.

It results from the reaction of aqueous acidic and oxidizing solutions with the minerals in rocks and soils. Granite is extremely hard and less affected by the freeze thaw cycle the forces of abrasion and the surface exfoliation processes that are all a part of physical weathering. Ions dissolved in rainwater and soil water mineral fragments and granite fragments clays and iron oxides all of these. The kinds of changes that take place are highly specific to the mineral and the environmental conditions.

Chemical weathering of granite occurs when dilute carbonic acid and other acids present in rain and soil waters alter feldspar in a process called hydrolysis.