Physics
Scientific paper
Aug 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992gecoa..56.3209d&link_type=abstract
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 56, Issue 8, pp.3209-3216
Physics
27
Scientific paper
Surface water and soil samples were collected from a series of small catchments on granitic gneiss in the Canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. Elevations of the sampling points ranged from 220 to 2400 m; vegetation varied correspondingly from deciduous forest through coniferous forest to alpine pasture and essentially unvegetated rock and talus. Annual precipitation averaged 1.9 to 2.4 m. The concentrations of the major cations and silica in surface waters decreased more or less exponentially with elevation. The cationic denudation rate decreased from about 500 meq/m 2 · y at the lower elevations to about 20 meq/m 2 · y at the highest. Alkalinity decreased from 250 to about -7 eq/1. Although total concentrations decreased with elevation, there were no clear systematic trends in the ratios of the concentrations of the major cations and silica. This suggests that the nature of the secondary minerals formed during weathering in the area does not change with elevation, despite great changes in soil type and environmental conditions. The clay mineralogy of the soils is dominated by unweathered and slightly weathered bedrock minerals: mica and chlorite, hydrobiotite, and poorly characterized mixed-layer material. Small amounts of kaolinite and smectite were observed in a few samples, but there do not appear to be any systematic trends in clay mineralogy with elevation. Mass-balance arguments suggest that the major (in terms of solute generation) weathering product is either kaolinite or a mixture of A1(OH) 3 and 2:1 clays. The lack of dependence of weathering stoichiometry on elevation (a surrogate for several environmental variables) or solute concentrations perhaps reflects the importance of local relief, which did not vary systematically with elevation.
Drever James I.
Zobrist Jürg
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