GPHY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Soda Straw, Baffin Island, Calcium Bicarbonate

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Geography
• Course: GPHY 102
• Professor: Ryan K Danby

Document Summary

Weathering: the physical or chemical alteration of rock, usually involving disintegration to smaller elements, (i) chemical, (ii) physical, (iii) biological, not mutually exclusive, chemical weathering. Opposite reaction is (cid:498)reduction(cid:499) (removal of oxygen(cid:499: acid action creation of weak acids when compounds such as co2 dissolve, hydrolysis and oxidation tend to soften rock, weakening it and promoting, acid slowly dissolves certain minerals, eg. When carbonic acid comes in contact with carbonate rocks such as causes chemical alteration, formation of oxides. Eg. iron and aluminum oxides further weathering, particularly along fractures and cracks in h20 (carbonic acid) limestone it reacts to produce calcium bicarbonate, which is water soluble and is removed in solution: eg. Acid precipitation forms when nox and sox gases dissolve in rainwater: chemical weathering, limestone, quartz veins, alberta. Type of debris is determined by rock type and structure of these joints: physical weathering increases surface area available to chemical weathering, frost wedging: freeze-thaw action of water.