Chemical Weathering Granite

A gravestone made of granite will therefore resist fracturing cracking and chipping longer than a sandstone marker found in the same location.

Chemical weathering granite.

This reaction is called hydrolysis. Breakdown of rock to depths of many metres induced by the chemical alteration of rock minerals by groundwater. Some minerals like quartz are virtually unaffected by chemical weathering while. Granite is extremely hard and less affected by the freeze thaw cycle the forces of abrasion and the surface exfoliation processes that are all a part of physical weathering.

5 2 chemical weathering chemical weathering results from chemical changes to minerals that become unstable when they are exposed to surface conditions. Chemical weathering of granite occurs when dilute carbonic acid and other acids present in rain and soil waters alter feldspar in a process called hydrolysis. Granite contains on average 75 of silicon dioxide quartz and feldspar various metal aluminosilicates. Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rock induced by reactions between rock minerals and groundwater.

Hydrolysis occurs for example when water comes in contact with granite. The kinds of changes that take place are highly specific to the mineral and the environmental conditions. Hydrolysis is the chemical weathering of minerals by a mildly acidic water that forms when rains dissolves trace gases in the atmosphere. The reaction of feldspar minerals in granite with rainwater produces kaolinite white clay known as china clay used in the production of porcelain paper and glass.

As demonstrated in the following reaction this causes potassium feldspar to form kaolinite with potassium ions bicarbonate and silica in solution as byproducts.