The lateral and vertical growth of laterite weathering profiles,Hawaiian Islands,USA

The Hawaiian Islands permit investigation of tropical chemical weathering rates and processes on a single rock type, basalt. Chronosequences are investigated as a function of rainfall due to the varying age of each island, including Kauai (~4 Ma), Oahu (~2 Ma), and Hawaii's Kohala Peninsula (~0.3 to 0.17 Ma). Understanding tropical critical zone (CZ) development is vital given the large populations in developing countries that rely on it. HVSR (horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio) seismic soundings on Kauai indicate that ~60% of the variability in laterite thickness is due to gradients in precipitation, with errors in erosion corrections and variability in the original permeability structure of the volcanic sequence playing important roles. Basalts have higher horizontal than vertical hydraulic conductivity (K_h > K_v) , and local variability in likely drives much of the remaining differences in laterite thickness. HVSR is well suited for estimating laterite thickness as it has been shown to reliably detect the base of the weathering profile, is rapid (20 min/sounding), highly portable, and occupies a very small footprint. Comparison of Kauai and Oahu weathering profiles suggests that the Oahu laterites are fully or nearly fully formed, despite being half the age of Kauai. By contrast, the young laterites on Kohala (~170 to ~300 ka) exhibit greatly contrasting thicknesses, where coastal laterites are thick and interior laterites are thin, suggesting that early weathering on shield volcanoes produces wedge-shaped laterites near the coast. With time, the thick (coastal) end of the wedge propagates upslope such that a fully developed, constant-thickness laterite carapace can form in ~2 Ma or less. The development of thickened coastal laterites on young substrates depends on greater water–rock ratios as vertically infiltrating water upslope is diverted laterally. This view of laterite development is very different compared to endmember models of continental weathering and CZ development. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The critical role of climate and saprolite weathering in landscape evolution

Landscapes evolve in response to external forces, such as tectonics and climate, that influence surface processes of erosion and weathering. Internal feedbacks between erosion and weathering also play an integral role in regulating the landscapes response. Our understanding of these internal and external feedbacks is limited to a handful of field‐based studies, only a few of which have explicitly examined saprolite weathering. Here, we report rates of erosion and weathering in saprolite and soil to quantify how climate influences denudation, by focusing on an elevation transect in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. We use an adapted mass balance approach and couple soil‐production rates from the cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) ¹⁰Be with zirconium concentrations in rock, saprolite and soil. Our approach includes deep saprolite weathering and suggests that previous studies may have underestimated denudation rates across similar landscapes. Along the studied climate gradient, chemical weathering rates peak at middle elevations (1200–2000 m), averaging 112·3 ± 9·7 t km^–2 y^–1 compared to high and low elevation sites (46·8 ± 5·2 t km^?2 y^?1). Measured weathering rates follow similar patterns with climate as those of predicted silica fluxes, modeled using an Arrhenius temperature relationship and a linear relationship between flux and precipitation. Furthermore, chemical weathering and erosion are tightly correlated across our sites, and physical erosion rates increase with both saprolite weathering rates and intensity. Unexpectedly, saprolite and soil weathering intensities are inversely related, such that more weathered saprolites are overlain by weakly weathered soils. These data quantify exciting links between climate, weathering and erosion, and together suggest that climate controls chemical weathering via temperature and moisture control on chemical reaction rates. Our results also suggest that saprolite weathering reduces bedrock coherence, leading to faster rates of soil transport that, in turn, decrease material residence times in the soil column and limit soil weathering. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A low‐dimensional model of bedrock weathering and lateral flow coevolution in hillslopes: 1. Hydraulic theory of reactive transport

This is the first of a two‐part paper exploring the coevolution of bedrock weathering and lateral flow in hillslopes using a simple low‐dimensional model based on hydraulic groundwater theory (also known as Dupuit or Boussinesq theory). Here, we examine the effect of lateral flow on the downward fluxes of water and solutes through perched groundwater at steady state. We derive analytical expressions describing the decline in the downward flux rate with depth. Using these, we obtain analytical expressions for water age in a number of cases. The results show that when the permeability field is homogeneous, the spatial structure of water age depends qualitatively on a single dimensionless number, Hi. This number captures the relative contributions to the lateral hydraulic potential gradient of the relief of the lower‐most impermeable boundary (which may be below the weathering front within permeable or incipiently weathered bedrock) and the water table. A “scaled lateral symmetry” exists when Hi is low: age varies primarily in the vertical dimension, and variations in the horizontal dimension x almost disappear when the vertical dimension z is expressed as a fraction z/H(x) of the laterally flowing system thickness H(x). Taking advantage of this symmetry, we show how the lateral dimension of the advection–diffusion‐reaction equation can be collapsed, yielding a 1‐D vertical equation in which the advective flux downward declines with depth. The equation holds even when the permeability field is not homogeneous, as long as the variations in permeability have the same scaled lateral symmetry structure. This new 1‐D approximation is used in the accompanying paper to extend chemical weathering models derived for 1‐D columns to hillslope domains.     

Space weathering processes on airless bodies: Fe isotope fractionation in the lunar regolith

Nanophase Fe metal grains (np-Fe°) are a product of space weathering, formed by processes related to meteorite impacts, and solar-wind sputtering on airless planetary bodies, such as the Moon. Iron isotopes of lunar soils are fractionated during these processes, and the np-Fe° in the finest (<10 μm), mature, size fractions of the soil become enriched in heavier isotopes by ∼0.3‰ in ⁵⁶Fe/⁵⁴Fe in comparison to the bulk rocks (0.03±0.05‰), from which the soil was formed. A positive correlation of δ⁵⁶Fe values with the soil maturity index, I_S/FeO, suggests that the high δ⁵⁶Fe values reflect production of nanophase Fe metal that is produced by space weathering that occurs on airless planetary bodies. Furthermore, the enrichment of δ⁵⁶Fe in the smallest size fraction of lunar soils supports a model for creation of np-Fe° through vapor deposition induced by micrometeorites, as well as that by solar-wind sputtering.     

HVSR方法用于地震作用下场地效应分析的适用性研究

以美国Garner Valley Downhole Array（GVDA）竖向观测台阵的强震观测记录为基础,利用水平与竖向谱比（Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio, HVSR）方法与传统谱比方法研究了多次地震作用下竖向台阵场地的波动传播规律,探讨了该场地HVSR曲线与传递函数（Transfer Function, TF）曲线的差异,综合利用频域求解一维层状场地P、SV波入射情况下场地响应的土层地震反应分析方法和合成理论地震图的波数积分法解释了二者差异可能的原因,在此基础上研究了HVSR方法应用于地震作用下场地效应分析的适用性.研究结论表明：竖向地震动场地效应是HVSR与传递函数产生差异的主要原因,竖向地震动场地效应主要是由竖向地震动中的P波成分引起的.在场地竖向放大可以忽略的频段范围内,HVSR可以作为传递函数研究地震作用下的场地效应.     

Subsoil structure and site effects: A comparison between results from SPAC and HVSR in sites of complex geology

We present the results of the analysis of array recorded microtremors at 14 sites, close to the edges of the Mygdonian basin in northern Greece (Euroseistest). These measurements were made in order to better constrain the geometry and velocity structure of the basin as the soil layers taper out close to rock outcrop, where geology is complex and we may expect significant changes of the subsoil structure over short distances. The data were analysed using the SPAC method and HVSR. The first interprets the measurements as Rayleigh waves (for the vertical component we analysed) and allows to invert a phase velocity dispersion curve from computed correlation coefficients. The second estimates a local transfer function directly, from ratios of Fourier amplitude spectra. A phase velocity dispersion curve could be derived for 12 of the 14 measurement sites, and at three of the sites no resonant frequency was observed in the HVSR. It is encouraging that we obtained good results at most of our sites, in spite of the lateral heterogeneity expected close to the edges of Euroseistest. Our results allow us to obtain shear wave velocity models at most of the measurement sites (12 out of 14). They are also useful to explore the relation between size of the array and wavelength range for which a dispersion curve may be estimated, which in our case has strong limitations. We identify the frequency of resonance of the sediments as a small loss of coherency in SPAC’s correlation coefficients. Finally, we also consider the applicability of the joint inversion of the resonance frequency determined using HVSR and the phase velocity dispersion curve obtained from SPAC.     

Climate driven coevolution of weathering profiles and hillslope topography generates dramatic differences in critical zone architecture

Considerable debate revolves around the relative importance of rock type, tectonics, and climate in creating the architecture of the critical zone. We demonstrate the importance of climate and in particular the rate of water recharge to the subsurface, using numerical models that incorporate hydrologic flowpaths, chemical weathering, and geomorphic rules for soil production and transport. We track alterations in both solid phase (plagioclase to clay) and water chemistry along hydrologic flowpaths that include lateral flow beneath the water table. To isolate the role of recharge, we simulate dry and wet cases and prescribe identical landscape evolution rules. The weathering patterns that develop differ dramatically beneath the resulting parabolic interfluves. In the dry case, incomplete weathering is shallow and surface parallel, whereas in the wet case, intense weathering occurs to depths approximating the base of the bounding channels, well below the water table. Exploration of intermediate cases reveals that the weathering state of the subsurface is strongly governed by the ratio of the rate of advance of the weathering front itself controlled by the water input rate, and the rate of erosion of the landscape. The system transitions between these end‐member behaviours rather abruptly at a weathering front speed ‐ erosion rate ratio of approximately 1. Although there are undoubtedly direct roles for tectonics and rock type in critical zone architecture, and yet more likely feedbacks between these and climate, we show here that differences in hillslope‐scale weathering patterns can be strongly controlled by climate.     

利用HVSR方法探测四川理县西山村滑坡速度结构

HVSR(Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio)是地震背景噪声水平分量与垂直分量的频谱比, 常被用来探测起伏地形较小的浅地表速度结构.然而, 高起伏地形下该方法的适用性还需要仔细研究.本文探讨利用HVSR方法探测四川理县西山村滑坡的速度结构.我们首先将ENZ坐标系下三分量地震数据旋转到垂直于地形自由面的LQT坐标系, 分别计算了两个坐标系下2 h地震背景噪声数据的HVSR曲线, 对比结果发现, LQT坐标系下三分量数据的HVSR峰值频率更能反映地下结构信息.然后, 本文反演了29个台站LQT坐标系的HVSR曲线, 获得了滑坡体堆积物及基岩的一维S波速度结构.西山村滑坡体堆积物的S波速度范围为50~1000 m·s^-1, 滑坡厚度23~130 m.滑坡体西侧边缘地下40 ~120 m处存在10~20 m的低速层, 表明该位置抗剪强度相对较弱, 是潜在的滑动危险区域.对数据进行坐标系转换后, HVSR方法能够利用较短的观测数据获取可靠的滑坡体速度结构, 为滑坡体积估算、脆弱位置识别、灾害评估提供重要信息.

     

Evidence for extreme variations in the permeability of laterite from a detailed analysis of well behaviour in Nigeria

Laterite soils are widespread in tropical Africa and have a large impact on the hydrology of the areas they cover. The permeability of laterite helps determine the partitioning of runoff and interflow and regulates groundwater recharge to underlying bedrock. Groundwater within laterite also forms a widespread source of drinking water, typically from unimproved hang‐dug‐wells. Despite its importance, there is little published information on laterite aquifer properties. In this study, data from a 6 m deep well in Nigeria have been analysed to characterise the hydraulic conductivity of the laterite from repeated pumping tests. Transmissivity measurements from 40 tests spread out across a hydrological year varied from 0.1 to 1000 m²/d. Further interpretation of the data demonstrate a strong non‐linear decrease in horizontal hydraulic conductivity with depth, characterised by an upper horizon of extreme permeability (400 m/d), and a much lower permeability profile beneath (<0.1 m/d). These data are substantiated with observations from other wells throughout the area. This non‐linear permeability structure has several implications: the upper laterite can facilitate rapid lateral throughflow in the wet season, enabling contaminants to be transported significant distances (up to 1 km); natural groundwater levels are restricted to a narrow range for much of the year; and, in the dry season, the lower permeability of the deeper laterite restricts the amount of water which can be abstracted from shallow wells, leading to well failure. The work highlights the need for a wider study to better understand laterite soils and the role they play in regional hydrology. © 2013 Natural Environment Research Council. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

HMT法探测花岗岩差异风化的应用研究

通常情况下花岗岩岩性稳定、岩石完整,是隧道工程的理想围岩.我国沿海地区花岗岩覆盖普遍,但因气候炎热,秋夏两季多台风暴雨,降雨量丰富,化学风化作用剧烈,使得花岗岩差异风化严重.风化作用不仅仅发生在近地表,而且深切入地下达数百米,常穿过隧道洞身.本文以新建厦门至深圳高速铁路(简称厦深高铁)某隧道工程勘察为例,采用探测深度大、工作方便的天然场源高频大地电磁测深法(HMT),探测花岗岩差异风化情况.四条相邻测线综合探测结果表明:根据HMT法二维反演剖面图中电阻率的差异,成功解释了已开挖段的施工塌陷范围,并预测了将要开挖段的强风化弱地质结构分布范围;通过垂向相对低阻异常特征定量推断了岩体风化带向下延伸情况,为隧道安全施工提供了科学指导.     

噪声HVSR法在OBS探测中的应用——以珠江口外海OBS台阵为例

噪声谱比法(horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio, HVSR)通常用于确定沉积层的厚度, 而应用于海底地震仪(OBS)以获取海底沉积厚度的研究较少.本文将HVSR法应用于珠江口外海域OBS台阵中, 验证了该方法用于OBS探测中的可靠性.通过对珠江口外海27台OBS收集的三分量地震噪声记录进行处理, 得到了所有台站的HVSR曲线.有23台OBS的HVSR曲线可获取与沉积层厚度相关的峰值频率, 通过经验公式可以计算得到沉积层厚度.结果显示, 珠江口外海域沉积层(新生代地层)厚度范围为100~3500 m, 研究区东南部沉积层远厚于西北部, 且沉积厚度受到NEE向滨海断裂带控制.本文获得的结果与以往依靠反射地震剖面和钻井等获得的沉积层厚度结果基本一致.进一步分析发现研究区新生代地层具有多层结构, 大部分HVSR曲线在5~12 Hz存在振幅最大的波峰, 认为是与第四系厚度相关的峰值频率, 继而确定第四系厚度为20~50 m.本研究拓展了HVSR法的应用领域, 为获取海底沉积层厚度提供了一种新的可靠方法.

     

Preliminary study on weathering and pedogenesis of carbonate rock

South China is the largest continuous distribution area of carbonate rock in the world. The origin of the soils over the bedrock carbonate rock has long been a controversial topic. Here further exploration is made by taking five soil profiles as examples, which are developed over the bedrock dolomitite and limestone and morphologically located in upland in karst terrain in the central, west and north Guizhou as well as west Hunan, and proved to be the weathering profiles of carbonate rock by the research results of acid-dissolved extraction experiment of bedrock, mineralogy and trace element geochemistry. Field, mineralogical and trace element geochemical characteristics of weathering and pedogenesis for carbonate rock are discussed in detail. It is pointed out that weathering and pedogenesis of carbonate rock are important pedogenetic mechanisms for soil resources in karst area, providing a basis for further researches on the origin of soils widely overlying bedrock carbonate rocks in South China. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 498330003) and National Key Basic Research Project (Grant No. 95pre-39).     

Using gravestones to assess changing rates of weathering in the United Kingdom

Weathering rates were calculated using the height difference between lead lettering and marble on gravestones at three sites in the UK. Comparison of their regression lines and residuals suggested that two of the sites, Portsmouth and Wolverhampton, had similar amounts and rates of weathering over the last 100-150 years. Gravestones in Swansea appear to have weathered much more and much faster than gravestones at the other two sites. These differences may be the result of the differing pollution and rainfall histories of the three sites.     

A low‐dimensional model of bedrock weathering and lateral flow coevolution in hillslopes: 2. Controls on weathering and permeability profiles,drainage hydraulics,and solute export pathways

The advance of a chemical weathering front into the bedrock of a hillslope is often limited by the rate weathering products that can be carried away, maintaining chemical disequilibrium. If the weathering front is within the saturated zone, groundwater flow downslope may affect the rate of transport and weathering—however, weathering also modifies the rock permeability and the subsurface potential gradient that drives lateral groundwater flow. This feedback may help explain why there tends to be neither “runaway weathering” to great depth nor exposed bedrock covering much of the earth and may provide a mechanism for weathering front advance to keep pace with incision of adjacent streams into bedrock. This is the second of a two‐part paper exploring the coevolution of bedrock weathering and lateral flow in hillslopes using a simple low‐dimensional model based on hydraulic groundwater theory. Here, we show how a simplified kinetic model of 1‐D rock weathering can be extended to consider lateral flow in a 2‐D hillslope. Exact and approximate analytical solutions for the location and thickness of weathering within the hillslope are obtained for a number of cases. A location for the weathering front can be found such that lateral flow is able to export weathering products at the rate required to keep pace with stream incision at steady state. Three pathways of solute export are identified: “diffusing up,” where solutes diffuse up and away from the weathering front into the laterally flowing aquifer; “draining down,” where solutes are advected primarily downward into the unweathered bedrock; and “draining along,” where solutes travel laterally within the weathering zone. For each pathway, a different subsurface topography and overall relief of unweathered bedrock within the hillslope is needed to remove solutes at steady state. The relief each pathway requires depends on the rate of stream incision raised to a different power, such that at a given incision rate, one pathway requires minimal relief and, therefore, likely determines the steady‐state hillslope profile.     

Validation through HVSR measurements of a method for the quick detection of site amplification effects from intensity data: an application to a seismic area in Northern Italy

An instrumental validation is attempted of an innovative approach devoted to the quick individuation, from macroseismic data, of site amplification phenomena able to significantly modify seismic hazard levels expected on the basis of average propagation effects only. According to this methodology, two evaluations of hazard are performed at each investigated locality: the former, obtained by epicentral intensity data ‘reduced’ at the site through a probabilistic attenuation function and, the latter, computed by integrating such data with seismic effects actually observed at the site during past earthquakes. The comparison, for each locality, between these two hazard estimates allow to orientate the identification of those sites where local amplifications of earthquake ground motion could be significant. In order to check such methodology, indications obtained in this way from macroseismic data are compared with the estimates of transfer functions performed through the HVSR technique applied to microtremors. Results concerning municipalities located in a seismic area of Northern Italy indicate a good agreement between macroseismic and instrumental estimates.     

The application of confocal microscopy to the study of stone weathering

Confocal scanning light microscopy is a valuable new method for examining the nature and progress of stone weathering at a level of resolution between optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Not only is it non-destructive, but it can also create three-dimensional images.     

Experimental salt weathering of limestones in relation to rock properties

A total of 21 different types of British and European Mesozoic limestones have been subjected to simulated salt weathering using sodium sulphate (Na₂SO₄) with the following aims: assessment of the relative durabilities of different types of limestone; assessment of the importance of modulus of elasticity and other factors in affecting durability; and assessment of the use of impulse excitation techniques to monitor changes in rock modulus of elasticity. The rocks showed a wide spectrum of durabilities; while rocks with high values of modulus of elasticity, lower water absorption capacities, high densities and low salt uptakes tended to be durable, there were anomalies, the explanation for which probably lies in their pore structures. Non-destructive testing techniques showed that, although the more durable rocks failed to lose weight or to show visual signs of disintegration, their modulus of elasticity values did tend to decline, indicating a loss in strength. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate controls on coupled processes of chemical weathering,bioturbation, and sediment transport across hillslopes

Most hillslope studies examining the interplay between climate and earth surface processes tend to be biased towards eroding parts of landscapes. This limitation makes it difficult to assess how entire upland landscapes, which are mosaics of eroding and depositional areas, evolve physio‐chemically as a function of climate. Here we combine new soil geochemical data and published ¹⁰Be‐derived soil production rates to estimate variations in chemical weathering across two eroding‐to‐depositional hillslopes spanning a climate gradient in southeastern Australia. At the warmer and wetter Nunnock River (NR) site, rates of total soil (–3 to –14 g m^‐2 yr^‐1; negative sign indicates mass loss) and saprolite (–18 to –32 g m^‐2 yr^‐1) chemical weathering are uniform across the hillslope transect. Alternatively, the drier hillslope at Frog's Hollow (FH) is characterized by contrasting weathering patterns in eroding soils (–30 to –53 g m^‐2 yr^‐1) vs. depositional soils (+91 g m^‐2 yr^‐1; positive sign indicates mass addition). This difference partly reflects mineral grain size sorting as a result of upslope bioturbation coupled with water‐driven soil erosion, as well as greater vegetative productivity in moister depositional soils. Both of these processes are magnified in the drier climate. The data reveal the importance of linking the erosion–deposition continuum in hillslope weathering studies in order to fully capture the coupled roles of biota and erosion in driving the physical and chemical evolution of hillslopes. Our findings also highlight the potential limitations of applying current weathering models to landscapes where particle‐sorting erosion processes are active. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Origin of honeycombs and related weathering forms in Oligocene Macigno Sandstone,Tuscan coast near Livorno,Italy

Two types of cavernous‐weathering features are exposed in the Oligocene Macigno Sandstone along 5 km of the Tuscan coast south of Livorno, Italy. Honeycomb cells (type 1 features) are typical closely spaced, more or less circular pits of centimetre scale that have been eroded 2 to 6 cm below the general surface of bedding planes or joints. ‘Aberrant honeycomb’ cells (type 2 features) are highly elongate, polygonal, or irregular ?at depressions of decimetre scale surrounded by walls rarely higher than 2 cm, some of which pass into long, free‐standing walls or tendrils. Thus, not all type 2 ‘honeycomb’ cells are fully enclosed. We measured the geometry of 551 honeycomb cells and examined various rock properties (microscopic texture and fabric, mineralogy, porosity, permeability, and chemical composition) to isolate factors that control the size, shape, distribution, and pattern of the honeycombs. Our goal was to narrow potential origins of the features and to understand their formation. The ubiquitous occurrence of sea salt in the honeycombs and scanning electron microscope evidence of physical weathering of silicates, especially micas, favours an origin for the honeycombs chie?y by salt weathering. Honeycombs do not form in siltstone, iron‐oxide‐impregnated sandstone, calcite‐cemented concretions, or in case‐hardened joints. Thus, salt weathering of type 1 and 2 honeycombs is not effective in very low permeability rocks. We propose for type 1 honeycombs that seawater is drawn into micropores of the sandstone and evolves into self‐organized diffusion cells (Turing patterns). Selective evaporation at the stationary nodes of diffusion cells, which form at the same site over time, leads to the precipitation of salt, then grains spall off, and pits are formed. The deepest pits (>40 mm) formed where Turing patterns consistently formed at the same sites. Although the walls are more porous and weathered than the host sandstone, they become selectively case hardened by an unidenti?ed component of low abundance. Initial honeycomb cell shape and gravity locally in?uenced type 1 honeycomb shapes. We suggest that type 2 honeycombs develop where diffusion‐controlled Turing patterns lead to case‐hardening along linear trends; gravity and rock fabric are important locally in in?uencing the orientation of the walls. Only type 2 cells are forming today, suggesting recent environmental changes. Gravity is not a fundamental control on honeycomb shape; in places it is a contributing factor. Pre‐existing depressions (quarry tool marks) have strongly in?uenced honeycomb shape locally. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.