Relative Movement of Major Elements on the Weathering of Rocks

암석의 풍화에 따르는 주요성분의 상대적 이동

This dissertation is a basic research on the degradation of rocks and aims at clarifying the relations between the progression of degree of weathering and the variation of chemical composition. The author wants to make clear the degradation of rocks and the process of formation of sedimentary rocks from a standpoint of elucidation of migration of elements. This study is considered to be significant not only as a part of research on the distribution of earth crust materials but as the petrogenesis of rocks. The chemical studies on the weathered rocks have been started relatively early and there are not a few researches on them: Goldich, 1938; Harris, et al., 1966; Ruxton, 1968; Berner, et al., 1982; Kanuss, 1983; Lasaga, 1984; Siagel, 1984. The degree of migration of elements in weathering is the composite result of various factors. Because, at the present time, it is difficult to clarify the individual and composite effects of each factor theoretically and quanititatively, we must accumulate empirical data and use them relatively. In such consideration the author acquired some data of chemical weathering from the chemical analysis of granitic and basaltic rocks in and around Fukuoka city, Japan and granitic rocks in and around Chonju and Iri cities, Korea. Because both rock types studied can be considered as representative materials of acidic and basic rocks compsing the earth crust, it is significant to examine the phenomena of weathering of both rock types. The following results are obtained from the analysis and examinations of chemical compositions of the original and weathered rocks. The loss rate of major elements has no uniformity, but the following relation holds in general; Ca, Na> K, Si> Mg> Fe, Al. As weathering proceeds, the ratio of $Al_2O_3/CaO$ shows increasing phenomena, and that of $Na_2O/CaO$ decreasing. The range of migration of composition is broad in basaltic rocks but narrow in granitic rocks. The reason is that the chemical weathering of basaltic rocks progresses more easily than that of granitic rocks. The chemical weathering potenitial index of basaltic rocks in larger than that of granitic rocks. The reason is that the chemical weathering of basaltic rocks proceeds more easily than that of granitic rocks. In weathering, the decrease of mobile cations such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Na^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$ and the increase of $H_2O$ in basaltic rocks are more obvious than in granitic rocks.