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Science 14 March 1980:
Vol. 207. no. 4436, pp. 1205 - 1206
DOI: 10.1126/science.207.4436.1205
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Articles

Dissolution of Pyroxenes and Amphiboles During Weathering

ROBERT A. BERNER 1, E. L. SJÖBERG 1, MICHAEL A. VELBEL 1, and MICHAEL D. KROM 1

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

Augite, hypersthene, diopside, and hornblende all undergo dissolution during weathering by means of the formation, growth, and coalescence of distinctive, parallel, lens-shaped etch pits. Similar etch features can be produced if these minerals are treated in the laboratory with concentrated hydrofluoric acid plus hydrochloric acid. These pits most likely form at dislocation outcrops, and their shape and orientation are controlled primarily by the crystallography of the underlying mineral. The results are similar to those found for soil feldspars and suggest that silicate weathering, in general, takes place by selective etching and not by general attack of the surface with consequent rounding as necessiated by bulk diffusion-type weathering theories.

Submitted on September 24, 1979
Revised on November 19, 1979


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