Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
• Source Area
– Tectonic Setting (availability)
– Climate (chemical durability)
• Transportation – Depositional Environment
– Grain Size (mechanical & chemical durability)
• Diagenetic Trends
Wentworth’s Size Scale
Boulder
-8 Φ Conglomerate
Cobble -6 Φ Breccia
Pebble Gravel
-2 Φ (Rudites)
Granule -1 Φ
Sand Sandstones
4Φ
Silt Siltstone
Mud 8Φ
Clay Claystone
“Average Compositions”
Feldspar Quartz
“Average” Igneous Rock 65-70% 20%
• ____________________:
– Sand- and coarse silt-sized particles
• _______________:
– Grains smaller than coarse silt (typically clays)
filling interstitial spaces between framework
grains ( may be detrital or recrystallized)
• _______________:
– Minerals precipitated from solution
Mineral Components include:
5%
Mechanical Weathering
The disintegration or breaking up of
rocks without changes in the
composition of weathered products.
Chemical Weathering
The decomposition of rocks causing
changes in the composition of
weathered products.
Major Weathering Processes
include:
Physical Weathering
• Frost wedging
• Wetting & drying
• Salt crystallization
• Pressure release
• Biological activity
Boggs, 2001
Major Weathering Processes
include:
Chemical Weathering
• Solution
• Hydration
• Hydrolysis
• Oxidation-Reduction
• Chelation
Boggs, 2001
Solution
e.g.
Oxidation-Reduction
A chemical process in which a
compound loses or gains an electron
(usually to an Oxygen ion).
e.g.
Products of Chemical Weathering
Mechanical
Mechanical
Weathering
Weathering
Increased surface area ••Disintegration
Disintegration
increases rate of
chemical weathering
Strakhov, 1967
Climatic Controls on Weathering
Taiga- Semi-Arid Tropics
Tundra
Temperate Arid
Strakhov, 1967
Strakhov, 1967
Einsele, 2000
Einsele, 2000
Chemical Weathering Mechanical Weathering
Dominates Dominates
Humid
Tropical Mainly clays Total
High
Climate
Einsele, 2000
General trends in climatically-controlled
weathering products.
Humid
Tropical
Climate
Humid
Temperate
Arid to
Semi-Arid
Einsele, 2000
Typical Soil
Soil Profile
Profile
O: organics
A: leaching
B: illuviation
C: slight alteration
Allen, 1997
Einsele, 2000
Einsele, 2000
Regional Variations
of Soil Types
Major
Soil-
Forming
Processes
Boggs, 2001
Gleization
Boggs, 2001
Podzolization
Leaching (elluviation) of Al, Fe, &/or
organic matter from A horizon and
concentrated (illuviated) as Fe- & Al-
rich clays in B (spodic) horizon.
Boggs, 2001
Ferrallitization
Intense weathering creates thick,
uniform soils depleted of
exchangeable cations.
Boggs, 2001
Calcification
Calcium (caliche) accumulates near
the depth of average rainfall wetting
in semiarid to sub-humid regions.
PET > P
Boggs, 2001
Dogma of the “Immaculate Feldspar”
LOW
All weathered
All moderate-
(feldspar gone)
weathered
Relief
therefore:
K-feldspars should be more abundant and less
weathered than Plagioclase feldspars
Not all Feldspars are created equal!!
• ________________________:
________________________
– Most stable is more weathered – e.g. fresh
Plagioclase with weathered Orthoclase!
• Possible causes:
Unusual Weathering History?
• K+ chelation:*
chelation
– Na + and K + leached from above water table
– K + selectively removed by plants below water table
– Enriches NA/K ratio in phreatic zone
– Dissolution of Plagioclase retarded, K-spar accelerated
•* Eocene
What ofabout pre-Silurian (pre-land plants):
California
Orthoclase
– Should more weathered
see more than Plagioclase
fresh feldspar, little Plagioclase
It –was an isarea
This of lowinrelief,
common subtropical, withsandstones
Cambro-Ordovician a high water table
– 1968)
(Todd, e.g. up tp 35% fresh K-spar with very little Plagioclase
Unusual Weathering History?
• K+ chelation:
chelation
– Na + and K + leached from above water table
– K + selectively removed by plants below water table
– Enriches NA/K ratio in phreatic zone
– Dissolution of Plagioclase retarded, K-spar accelerated
Hydrous
Oxides
Micas
Vermiculite
Verm Smectite
Mont Kaolinite
Kaol Oxides
Oxides
Chlorite
Chlorite
Increased
IncreasedDegree
Degreeof
ofChemical
ChemicalWeathering
Weathering
Brady, 1990
Chemical
Least
Stable
Weathering
Stability
Sequence of
destruction by
Chemical
Weathering
Most
Stable
Relative Stability of Common Minerals
LEAST STABLE Rate of Chemical Weathering
Halite Fastest
Calcite
Olivine
Amphiboles
Plagioclase
K-feldspar
Clay
Quartz
Al Oxide
Fe Oxide
MOST STABLE Slowest
Compositional Changes due to
In-Situ Weathering
Quartz Lithic
Fragments
Feldspar Accessory
Minerals
Recycled Orogen
Provenance
Magmatic Arc
Provenance
Volcanic & plutonic rocks
high relief
after Dickinson & Suczek, 1979
Plate Tectonics
and Sandstone Composition
Qt Qm
Recycled Orogen
Continental Block
Magmatic Arc
F F
L Lt
What to do with
coarse-grained rock fragments? Dickinson et al, 1983
Plate Tectonics
and Sandstone Composition
Qt/F/L
Dickinson, 1985
Qm/F/Lt
Dickinson, 1985
Polycrystalline
Quartz
Rock
Fragments
Qp/Lv/Ls
Volcanic Sedimentary
Dickinson, 1985
Quartz - Feldspars
Monocrystalline
Quartz
Qm/P/K
Plagioclase K-feldspar
Dickinson, 1985
Compositional
of Major
Modern River
Sands
Potter, 1978
Composition of
Ancient River
Deposits
Potter, 1978
Rock Fragments in Major Rivers
Potter, 1978
Trends Towards
Increasing
Chemical & Textural
Maturity
Trends Towards
Increasing
Chemical & Textural
Maturity
Blatt, 1967
Exceptions to the relationship between
“Plate Tectonics & Sandstone Composition?”
Mack, 1984
Climate
verses
Tectonics?
Composition
and
Grain Size
Potter, 1978
Changes in
Feldspar % Composition
with
Grain Size
Total Rock
Quartz % Fragments
Rock Feldspar Monocrystalline Polycrystalline
Fragments Quartz Quartz
(arid)
(humid)
Potter, 1978
Downstream Variations in QFL
in the Amazon River
Downstream
Polycrystalline Quartz
Variations
Total Quartz
Foliated Lithics
Total Lithics
Mechanical Chemical
Weathering Dominant Weathering Dominant
TIME Quartz
Arenites
Slow Erosion & Transport
15%
14%
Devonian – Appalachian Basin
(Pennsylvania)
8%
Fluvial Rock
Marine Fragment
Medium Sand Feld.
RF
Permian deposits
Utah
Feld.
Fine Sand
RF
Distance from Source Mack, 1978
Average ss composition in braided stream,
eolian, and shallow marine environments*
Quartz
f Permian deposits
m c Utah
Feldspar Rock
Fragments
Mack, 1978
Feldspar mechanical stability diagram
Perthite
Mack, 1978
Quartz mechanical stability diagram
Non-undulous
Monocrystaline quartz
Depositional % RF %F % RF % RF
Environment Cretaceous Paleozoic Devonian Modern
Wyoming Colorado Pennsylvania Mexico
Beach 3% 8% 8% 47%
Dune - - - 28%
Qt/F/L
Qm/F/Lt
Salinas River
Carmel River
Fluvial Deposits
All Deposits
Pajaro River
Salinas River
Carmel River
Fluvial Deposits
Marine Deposits
Pajaro River
Salinas River
Marine
Carmel River
Fluvial
Carmel
Marine Pajaro
Marine
Carmel Pajaro
Fluvial Fluvial
Marine Deposits
Diagenetic Processes include:
• Compaction
– mechanical Reduces
– chemical (pressure solution) Primary
• Cementation Intergranular
Porosity
– carbonate and silica most common
• Mineral Replacement
• Dissolution Increases
– of framework grains &/or cements Secondary
Intragranular
– generates secondary porosity
Porosity
Effect of Composition on Porosity trends
with depth
Upper Texas
(n=84)
Middle Texas
(n=37)
Lower Texas
(n=69)
Primary
Porosity Changes in
Porosity
with Depth
Secondary
Porosity
Anstey, 1991
Thin-section vs Porosimeter Porosity