Formation processes of weathering products of pumice collected from a rhyolitic pyroclastic flow deposit were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). SEM clearly showed the presence of some weathering products adhering to the surface of pumice. XRD showed that the products were composed mainly of noncrystalline materials with a relatively small amount of halloysite (10 Å). TEM and EDX revealed texture transformation sequences from the earliest weathering product to a final product of halloysite as follows: 1) precipitation of very thin flaky or film-like noncrystalline Al-hydroxide; 2) transformation into irregularly aggregated Al-Fe-Si-rich fibrous material; 3) morphological changes to rounded aggregates; 4) development of halloysite-like curled domains with successive decrease in Fe content; and 5) further development of curled domains in rounded aggregates. These materials must be metastable phases at early reaction stages with kinetics limiting formation of the stable equilibrium phase of kaolinite.

Since his discovery in 1991 the iceman has been widely seen as meeting a dramatic end – mortally wounded by an arrow shot while attempting to flee through an Alpine pass. A careful study of all the located grave goods, here planned comprehensively for the first time, points strongly towards the scene as one of a ceremonial burial, subsequently dispersed by thawing and gravity. The whole assemblage thus takes on another aspect – not a casual tragedy but a mortuary statement of its day.