Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Figure credits
- PART 1 Introduction
- PART 2 Production of sediment at the Earth's surface
- 3 Weathering of rocks, production of terrigenous sediment, and soils
- 4 Biogenic and chemogenic sediment production
- PART 3 Fundamentals of fluid flow, sediment transport, erosion, and deposition
- PART 4 Environments of erosion and deposition
- PART 5 Sediment into rock: diagenesis
- PART 6 Long-term, large-scale processes: mountains and sedimentary basins
- References
- Appendix: Methods of study of Earth surface processes, landforms, and sediments
- Index
- Plate section
3 - Weathering of rocks, production of terrigenous sediment, and soils
from PART 2 - Production of sediment at the Earth's surface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Figure credits
- PART 1 Introduction
- PART 2 Production of sediment at the Earth's surface
- 3 Weathering of rocks, production of terrigenous sediment, and soils
- 4 Biogenic and chemogenic sediment production
- PART 3 Fundamentals of fluid flow, sediment transport, erosion, and deposition
- PART 4 Environments of erosion and deposition
- PART 5 Sediment into rock: diagenesis
- PART 6 Long-term, large-scale processes: mountains and sedimentary basins
- References
- Appendix: Methods of study of Earth surface processes, landforms, and sediments
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
Introduction to weathering
Weathering is the physical, chemical, and biochemical breakdown of Earth materials at the interface between the lithosphere and the atmosphere, and can be seen today in the deterioration of buildings and gravestones. Weathering is the starting point of sediment production by producing a soil: a layer of loose, unconsolidated sediment of variable thickness over the land surface that hosts plant growth in all but the driest, coldest, and most saline areas. These sediment grains (also known as clasts or detritus; adjectives clastic and detrital) are called terrigenous because they originate from the land surface. Terrigenous sediment grains are transported from the soils of the source area by sediment gravity flows, rivers, wind, ice, and various marine currents (see Part 3). Weathering determines in large part the initial mineralogy, size, and shape of the sediment grains eroded and transported out of a source area. In certain cases, the mineral composition of the sediment grains can be traced back to source-area rocks (i.e., their provenance), especially if weathering has not been too destructive. However, the mineralogy, size, and shape of sediment grains can be greatly altered by weathering and physical abrasion during their transport.
Weathering also produces dissolved solutes that leave the source area in surface water and groundwater, and the composition of these solutes depends on the source rocks and the nature of weathering.
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- Earth Surface Processes, Landforms and Sediment Deposits , pp. 45 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008