Experiments on the Decomposition of Silicates and Discussion of Chemical Weathering

Abstract

Experimental investigations of chemical weathering in which powders of potassium feldspar, albite, leucite, muscovite, tremolite, olivine, and volcanic glass are treated with pure water and with dilute solutions of sulfuric, carbonic, and hydrochloric acid have been performed in an apparatus in which the mineral powder is exposed to a circulating water flow. The experiments have been continued recently by treating kaolinite and montmorillonite. The course of decomposition of these minerals depends on water flow rate, grain size, temperature, and pH of the solutions. These experiments in open systems are compared with investigations reported in the literature and with the conditions of natural weathering.