Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:42:00.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chemical Weathering of Crystalline Rocks in the Catchment Area of Acidic Ticino Lakes, Switzerland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Rudolf Giovanoli ,
Jerald L. Schnoor ,
Laura Sigg ,
Werner Stumm  and
Jürg Zobrist
Rudolf Giovanoli
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Institute of Inorganic, Chemistry University Bern, CH-3000 Berne 9, Switzerland
Jerald L. Schnoor
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Laura Sigg
Affiliation:
Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control, EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, CH-8600, Duebendorf, Switzerland
Werner Stumm
Affiliation:
Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control, EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, CH-8600, Duebendorf, Switzerland
Jürg Zobrist
Affiliation:
Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control, EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, CH-8600, Duebendorf, Switzerland
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Atmospheric acidic deposition introduces hydrogen ions to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, which become partially neutralized by chemical weathering. In the southern Alps of Switzerland, small catchments containing little or no soil and lacking carbonate minerals represent sensitive hydrological settings in which the relationship between alteration of granitic gneiss by acid deposition and the resulting composition of lake waters can be studied. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy, coupled with X-ray powder diffraction of lake sediments from such areas showed mainly unaltered minerals from parent rocks and no secondary silicate minerals. Element mapping indicated noncrystalline aluminum hydroxide as a product of the chemical weathering of silicates. Noncrystalline iron hydroxide was also observed. Mass balance calculations and the stoichiometry of suitable chemical reactions representing the weathering processes were used to derive a plausible reaction sequence on the interaction of the predominant reactive rock minerals with acid precipitation that accounted for the measured chemical composition of the acid lakes.

Keywords

Acid precipitationAluminum hydroxideGneissIron hydroxideWeathering
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 1988 , pp. 521 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © 1988, The Clay Minerals Society

References

Berner, R. A. and Holdren, G. R. Jr., 1977 Mechanism of feldspar weathering: Some observation evidence Geology 5 369 – 372.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, A., Lasaga, A. and Stumm, W., 1987 Monte Carlo simulations of surface reaction rate laws Aquatic Surface Chemistry New York Wiley-Interscience.Google Scholar
Cornell, R. M. and Giovanoli, R. (1987) The influence of silicate species on the morphology of goethite (α-FeOOH) grown from ferrihydrite (5Fe2Cy9H/2O): Chem. Comm., J. Chem. Soc., London, 413.Google Scholar
Fung, P. C. and Sanipelli, G., 1982 Surface studies of feldspar dissolution using surface replication combined with electron microscopic and spectroscopic techniques Geo-chim. Cosmochim. Acta 46 503 – 512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furrer, G. and Stumm, W., 1986 The coordination chemistry of weathering: I. Dissolution kinetics of δ-Al2O3 and BeO Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50 1847 – 1860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrels, R. M. and Christ, C. L., 1965 Solutions, Minerals and Equilibria New York Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Günthert, A., Stern, W. B. and Schwander, H., 1976 Isochemische Granitgneissbildung im Maggia-Lappen Schweiz. Min. Petrogr. Mitt. 56 105 – 143.Google Scholar
Heggie, M. I. and Zheng, Y., 1987 Planar defects and dissociation of dislocations in a K-feldspar Phil. Mag. A56 681 – 688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, C. A. and Sigg, L., 1985 Acidity of rain and fog: Conceptual definitions and practical measurements of acidity Chimia 39 59 – 61.Google Scholar
Keller, W. D., 1978 Kaolinization of feldspar as displayed in scanning electron micrographs Geology 6 184 – 188.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, H. M., Helmke, P. A. and Jackson, M. L., 1979 Gibb-site solubility and thermodynamic properties of hydroxy-aluminum ions in aqueous solution at 25°C Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43 861 – 868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, W. R. and Drever, J. I., 1977 Chemical weathering and related controls on surface water chemistry in the Absaroka Mountains, Wyoming Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 41 1693 – 1702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosello, R., Tartari, G. A., Angeletti, G. and Restelli, G., 1987 Chemistry of atmospheric deposition at L. Toggia (2160 m a.s.l.), with emphasis on the sampling procedure Proc. 4th Europ. Symp. Physico-Chemical Behaviour of Atmospheric Pollutants, Stresa, Italy, 1986 Dordrecht Rei-del 176 – 187.Google Scholar
Pavlova, V. and Sigg, L. (1988) Adsorption of trace metals on aluminium oxide: Simulation of processes in freshwater systems: Water Research (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robert, M., Cabidoche, Y.-M. and Berrier, J., 1986 Pédogenèse et minéralogie des sols de haute montagne cristalline (etages alpin et subalpin), science du sol Bull. Assoc. Franç. Etude Sol 4 313 – 336.Google Scholar
Schnoor, J. L., Stumm, W. and Stumm, W., 1985 Acidification of aquatic and terrestrial systems Chemical Processes in Lakes New York Wiley-Interscience.Google Scholar
Schnoor, J. L. and Stumm, W., 1986 The role of chemical weathering in the neutralization of acidic deposition Schweiz. Z. Hydrologie 48 171 – 195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigg, L., Stumm, W., Zobrist, J. and Zürcher, F., 1987 The chemistry of fog: Factors regulating its composition Chimia 41 159 – 165.Google Scholar
Stumm, W., Morgan, J. J. and Schnoor, J. L., 1983 Saurer Regen, eine Folge der Störung hydrochemischer Kreisläufe Naturwissenschaften 70 216 – 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stumm, W., Sigg, L. and Schnoor, J. L., 1987a Aquatic chemistry of acid deposition Env. Sci. Technol. 21 8 – 13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stumm, W., Wehrli, B. and Wieland, E., 1987b Surface complexation and its impact on geochemical kinetics Croat. Acta 60 429 – 456.Google Scholar
Tardy, Y., 1971 Characterization of the principal weathering types by the geochemistry of waters from some European and African crystalline rocks Chem. Geol. 7 253 – 271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zobrist, J., Sigg, L., Schnoor, J. L., Stumm, W. and Barth, H., 1987 Buffering mechanisms in acidified alpine lakes Reversibility of Acidification Barking, United Kingdom Elsevier 95 – 103.Google Scholar