TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking soil element-mass-transfer to microscale mineral weathering across a semiarid environmental gradient
AU - Lybrand, Rebecca A.
AU - Rasmussen, Craig
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by NSF EAR-1123454 , NSF EAR/IF-0929850 , and the national Critical Zone Observatory program via NSF EAR-0724958 and NSF EAR-0632516 . The authors also thank Dr. Kenneth Domanik, Dr. S. Mercer Meding, Mary Kay Amistadi, Justine Mayo, Stephanie Castro, Christopher Clingensmith, and Andrew Martinez for laboratory and field assistance.
PY - 2014/8/14
Y1 - 2014/8/14
N2 - Understanding controls on silicate weathering is critical to characterizing critical zone evolution. The objective of this study was to investigate how climate, vegetation, and landscape position control feldspar transformations across a semiarid environmental gradient. Granitic surface soil and saprock samples were collected from desert scrub and mixed conifer sites within the Santa Catalina Mountain Critical Zone Observatory where mean annual temperature ranges from 24. °C to 10. °C and mean annual precipitation from 25 to 85. cm. Quantitative X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and electron microprobe analyses were employed to quantify elemental changes in bulk soils and across plagioclase grains. The chemical depletion of Na in bulk soils ranged from 5.4 - 15% in the desert scrub sites relative to 16-33% in the mixed conifer sites. Plagioclase grain alteration was classified into unaltered, edge, and altered sections to compare microscale weathering and elemental variation. The Na/Al and Si/Al ratios decreased from unaltered, to edge, to altered grain sections in the mixed conifer sites, whereas the element ratios of the desert scrub system were similar between unaltered and edge grain sections, and only exhibited significant decreases in Na/Al and Si/Al ratios between edge and altered materials. The microscale depletion of Na and Si suggested increased silicate weathering in the cooler, wetter, and more biologically productive mixed conifer system compared to the hot, dry desert scrub system. The results also demonstrated a topographic control on mineral transformation where increased plagioclase weathering occurred in convergent footslope landscapes with little change in elemental depletion of soils in divergent summit sites.
AB - Understanding controls on silicate weathering is critical to characterizing critical zone evolution. The objective of this study was to investigate how climate, vegetation, and landscape position control feldspar transformations across a semiarid environmental gradient. Granitic surface soil and saprock samples were collected from desert scrub and mixed conifer sites within the Santa Catalina Mountain Critical Zone Observatory where mean annual temperature ranges from 24. °C to 10. °C and mean annual precipitation from 25 to 85. cm. Quantitative X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and electron microprobe analyses were employed to quantify elemental changes in bulk soils and across plagioclase grains. The chemical depletion of Na in bulk soils ranged from 5.4 - 15% in the desert scrub sites relative to 16-33% in the mixed conifer sites. Plagioclase grain alteration was classified into unaltered, edge, and altered sections to compare microscale weathering and elemental variation. The Na/Al and Si/Al ratios decreased from unaltered, to edge, to altered grain sections in the mixed conifer sites, whereas the element ratios of the desert scrub system were similar between unaltered and edge grain sections, and only exhibited significant decreases in Na/Al and Si/Al ratios between edge and altered materials. The microscale depletion of Na and Si suggested increased silicate weathering in the cooler, wetter, and more biologically productive mixed conifer system compared to the hot, dry desert scrub system. The results also demonstrated a topographic control on mineral transformation where increased plagioclase weathering occurred in convergent footslope landscapes with little change in elemental depletion of soils in divergent summit sites.
KW - Critical zone
KW - Feldspar
KW - Granite
KW - Mineral weathering
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U2 - 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.04.022
DO - 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.04.022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901680100
SN - 0009-2541
VL - 381
SP - 26
EP - 39
JO - Chemical Geology
JF - Chemical Geology
ER -