Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yoo, K. Articles by Mudd, S. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Discrepancy between mineral residence time and soil age: Implications for the interpretation of chemical weathering rates

¹ University of Delaware, Plant and Soil Sciences Department, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
² School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK

Virtually all soil chronosequence studies have equated the degree of mineral weathering with the soil age, which is equal to the time since the cessation of erosion or deposition. The primary minerals from the parent material, however, enter the soil as the weathering front propagates downward and are depleted via chemical weathering. The residence time of minerals is thus a function of both the rate of conversion of parent material to soil (i.e., soil production) and the minerals' susceptibility to chemical weathering reactions. We find that mineral residence times are significantly shorter than the soil age. By mathematically considering the interactions among soil production and chemical weathering, we demonstrate that traditional estimates of mineral-specific chemical weathering rates from soil chronosequences may diverge by several orders of magnitude from the actual weathering rates.

Key Words: chemical weathering • soil formation • soil production • mineral dissolution

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. J. Gabet and S. M. Mudd A theoretical model coupling chemical weathering rates with denudation rates Geology, February 1, 2009; 37(2): 151 - 154. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]