CE 221 - Geology
WEATHERING
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
WEATHERING
Objectives
Explain how mechanical and chemical weathering turn bedrock
into sediment.
Determine and di erentiate the types of mechanical, chemical
and biological weathering.
Explain the chemical reactions involved in weathering.
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WEATHERING, EROSION,
MASS WASTING AND DEPOSITION
Occur at or near the
E a r t h’s s u r f a c e a n d
produce changes to the
landscape that in luence
surface and subsurface
topography and landform
development.
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WEATHERING
Bedrock refers to the solid rock that makes up the Earth’s
outer crust. Weathering is a process that turns bedrock
into smaller particles, called sediment.
Mechanical Weathering
Chemical Weathering
Biological Weathering
MECHANICAL WEATHERING
Mechanical Weathering is the physical disintegration and
reduction in the size of rocks without changing their chemical
composition.
The usual agents of mechanical weathering:
Pressure
Temperature
Freezing/thawing cycle of water
Plant or animal activity
Salt evaporation
MECHANICAL WEATHERING
Pressure Expansion
Frost Wedging
Root Wedging
Salt Expansion
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: PRESSURE EXPANSION
Pressure Expansion happens when there is a sudden
pressure drop which causes rock to rapidly expand and
crack
Sheeting or exfoliation
occurs when the rock
surface spalls off in layers.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: PRESSURE EXPANSION
Large rocks characterized by exfoliation are commonly
referred to as exfoliation domes.
Exfoliation in granite
Hope, British Columbia
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: FROST WEDGING
Frost Wedging is caused by the freeze-thaw action of
water trapped between cracks in the rock.
Generally produces angular blocks and talus material.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: FROST WEDGING
Mount Revelstoke National Park, Canada
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: ROOT WEDGING
Root Wedging happens
when plant roots work
themselves into cracks,
prying the bedrock apart
as they grow.
Rhizolith is the term for
these roots preserved in
the rock record.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: SALT EXPANSION
Salt Expansion occurs in areas of high evaporation or
near-marine environments.
Salt expansion is one of the causes of tafoni, a series of
holes in a rock which forms a honeycomb structure.
Gabriola Island,
British Columbia
MECHANICAL WEATHERING: SALT EXPANSION
Tafoni from Salt Point,
California
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Chemical Weathering happens when water, oxygen, and
other reactants chemically degrade the mineral
components of bedrock and turn them into water-soluble
ions which can then be transported by water.
D o m i n a n t we a t h e r i n g p ro c e s s i n wa r m , h u m i d
environments.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Chemical and mechanical weathering work hand-in-hand:
Chemical weathering only occurs on rock surfaces
because water and reactants cannot penetrate solid
rock.
Mechanical weathering penetrates bedrock, breaking
large rocks into smaller pieces and creating new rock
surfaces.
Higher surface-area-to-volume ratios produce higher rates
of weathering.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Carbonation
Hydrolysis
Dissolution
Oxidation
Hydration
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: CARBONATION
Carbonation is a process by which carbon dioxide and
rainwater or moisture in the surrounding environment
chemically react to produce carbonic acid, a weak acid,
that dissolves or breaks down minerals in the rock.
Primarily occurs in wet, moist climates and affects rocks
both on and beneath the surface.
Occurs with limestone or dolomite rocks and usually
produces very ine, clayey particles.
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CHEMICAL WEATHERING: CARBONATION
carbon dioxide + water → carbonic acid
calcite + carbonic acid → calcium + bicarbonate
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: HYDROLYSIS
Hydrolysis occurs via two types of reactions.
Water molecules ionize into positively charged H+ +1
and OH- ions and replace mineral cations in the
−1
crystal lattice.
Carbonic acid molecules react directly with
minerals, especially those containing silicon and
aluminum (i.e. Feldspars), to form molecules of clay
minerals which are water-soluble.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: HYDROLYSIS
Clay minerals are platy silicates or phyllosilicates which
are the main components of very ine-grained sediment.
The dissolved substances may later precipitate into
chemical sedimentary rocks like evaporite and
limestone, as well as amorphous silica.
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CHEMICAL WEATHERING: HYDRATION
Hydration is the absorption of water into the mineral
structure which causes the mineral grains to expand,
creating stress which causes the disintegration of the
rock.
Once hydration begins, it accelerates other weathering
processes and may also be accompanied by hydrolysis
and oxidation.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: HYDRATION
Anhydrite (CaSO4) can absorb two water molecules to
become gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O).
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: HYDRATION
This boulder is surrounded
by saprolitic soils formed
by the weathered rock.
Hydration processes
cause the formation of
clays and contribute to the
reddish color of the
saprolite.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: OXIDATION
Oxidation occurs geologically when iron atoms in a mineral
bond with oxygen and weaken the structure of the mineral.
During oxidation, the minerals in the rock will change colors,
taking on a ‘rusty’, reddish-orange appearance.
Three commonly found minerals are produced by iron-
oxidation reactions:
Red or grey hematite
Brown goethite
Yellow limonite
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: OXIDATION
Pyrite cubes are oxidized,
becoming a new mineral
goethite.
In this case, goethite is a
pseudomorph after pyrite,
meaning it has taken the
form of another mineral.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: DISSOLUTION
Dissolution occurs when minerals in rock dissolve
directly into water.
Most commonly occurs on rocks containing carbonates
such as limestone, but may also affect rocks with large
amount of halite, or rock salt.
Dissolution of large areas of bedrock may cause
sinkholes to form, where large areas of the ground
subside or collapse forming a depression.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING: DISSOLUTION
Subsurface dissolution of halite has Limestone dissolution in Florida’s
caused overlying rocks to collapse Everglades National Park.
and from crater-like features.
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING
Biological Weathering is the disintegration or decay of
rocks and minerals caused by chemical or physical
agents of organisms.
Organic activity from lichen and algae
Rock disintegration by plant growth
Burrowing and tunneling organisms
Secretion of acids
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING:
LICHEN, ALGAE AND DECAYING PLANTS
Organisms such as lichen and algae often live on bare rock
and extract minerals from the rock by ion-exchange
mechanisms which causes the rock to weaken and
breakdown.
The presence of organisms growing, expanding, or moving
across the surface of the rock also exerts a small amount of
abrasion and pressure that gradually cause the mechanical
weathering of the rock as the organisms extract various
minerals.
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING:
LICHEN, ALGAE AND DECAYING PLANTS
Biological weathering caused by mosses and
lichen growing on the face of a rock
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING: PLANT GROWTH
The most common form of biological weathering is
when plant roots penetrate into cracks and crevices of
rocks.
Tree growing between a crevasse in a rock.
The tree is splitting the rock along parallel
planes of alignment that are already
weakened by exfoliation processes.
BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING: ORGANISM ACTIVITY
Some animals such as worms, termites, and other
insects may burrow or tunnel into rocks or cracks in
rocks and cause the rock to break down and
disintegrate.
Some organisms, such as snails,
attach themselves to rocks and
secrete acids that chemically
dissolve the rock surface.
DIFFERENTIAL
WEATHERING
The differences in rates of
weathering due to different types of
rocks, textures, or other
characteristics.
Differential weathering processes
contribute to the unique formation of
many landforms, including pedestals,
waterfalls, and monadnocks.
DIFFERENTIAL WEATHERING
Peachtree Rock’s unique pyramidal
shape is a result of differential
weathering associated with the
different sedimentary sandstone rock
components.
The top portion of the outcrop consists
of hard, coarse-grained sandstone,
while the lower part of the rock consist
of a less cohesive, sandstone layer.
