Weathering of granitic rocks by chlorides: effect of the nature of the solution on weathering morphology

摘要

Five granites from NW Spain were subjected to two salt-spray weathering tests under controlled atmospheric conditions. Granite samples were exposed to a sodium chloride solution in the first test and to a complex solution (sea water) in the second. Subsequent examination of the rocks by light and petrographic microscopy clearly demonstrated the development of different weathering morphologies in each test. The distribution of dissolved ions in samples taken at different depths from the weathered surfaces at the end of the experiments, and the changes in weight of the samples during the tests, also differed. In our opinion, these results were determined by the nature of the solution used; although sodium chloride is the predominant salt in sea water, the presence of other ions modifies its solubility, thereby varying the dynamics of mobility and precipitation and thus the weathering morphology that develops.