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Weathering: The Initial Transition to Surface Materials and the Beginning of Surface Geochemistry

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Geochemistry at the Earth’s Surface

Abstract

The primary configuration of the materials at the surface of the earth is one of contact of solids with water and air. In the air one finds oxygen and carbon dioxide, which are dissolved in small quantities in the water present. The incorporation of these gases and their interaction with water molecules develops aqueous solutions that have active oxygen present and a slightly acidic solution due to the dissolved carbon dioxide which produces the acidic state. The cause of a slightly acidic solution is the activity of hydrogen ions, H+. Water is the medium in which solid–solid transformations take place, either by dissolution and re-crystallization or by exchange of ions. The transformation process needs water to be accomplished at a reasonable rate. The greater the amount of water present the greater the reaction rate, because the solutions remain further from equilibrium with the solids and movement of ions and electrons is accelerated by the lack of equilibrium. The result of surface alteration and re-equilibration with surface chemical conditions is in general to segregate mineral elements into hydrous silicates, called clay minerals, to form transition metal (Fe and Mn) oxy-hydroxides, and to release a significant amount of ions as hydrated species in the aqueous altering solutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung (INE), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Andreas Bauer

  2. Ecole Normale Supérieure Laboratoire de Géologie, Paris CEDEX 5, France

    Bruce D. Velde

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  1. Andreas Bauer
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Bauer, A., Velde, B.D. (2014). Weathering: The Initial Transition to Surface Materials and the Beginning of Surface Geochemistry. In: Geochemistry at the Earth’s Surface. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31359-2_3

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