Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study
The cyclic wetting and drying of a rock is considered to be one of a number of physical weathering processes that have an effect on the weathering of rock. While the presence of moisture is known to be of critical importance for the activation and enhancement of a number of other known weathering pr...
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ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/29251 2023-05-15T17:10:21+02:00 Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study Loubser, M.J. (Michael John) Sumner, P.D. (Paul) 2013-09-07T15:13:19Z http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11052010-142738/ unknown University of Pretoria http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251 Loubser, MJ 2010, Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study, MSc Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251> E10/750/gm http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11052010-142738/ © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Sandstone and basalt Cyclic wetting and drying of a rock UCTD Dissertation 2013 ftunivpretoria 2022-05-31T13:11:48Z The cyclic wetting and drying of a rock is considered to be one of a number of physical weathering processes that have an effect on the weathering of rock. While the presence of moisture is known to be of critical importance for the activation and enhancement of a number of other known weathering processes, such as cryogenic weathering, salt weathering and slaking it is possible that the mere cyclic application and removal of moisture over time may also have an effect on the physical structure of a rock. The precise nature of the process is not well understood, however. This document begins by investigating the studies that have previously been undertaken to determine how the wetting and drying weathering process is defined and to ascertain the current state of knowledge regarding this process. After an establishment of background context, a physical experiment is carried out on Clarens Formation sandstone and Marion Island basalt to note the relationship between cyclic wetting and drying and the changing physical properties of the rocks. The rocks were subjected to 105 wetting and drying cycles over a period of 21 weeks. At the beginning of the experiment, physical rock properties were measured by way of the method laid out by Cooke (1979) and again at the end of the experiment. Since the experiment was carried out under static environmental conditions, the comparison of physical rock properties gives a good indication of how the rocks have altered their structure over the experimental time period. The results obtained in this experiment show that different rock types will change in different ways when exposed to a common weathering process. The basalt samples experienced no mass loss at, while the sandstones did. The sandstones, which are rocks that are of common lithology and of very similar physical and chemical structure reacted to the wetting and drying weathering process in ways that could not be predicted without experimentation. The data does show a clear causal link between the application of external ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Marion Island University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
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University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
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topic |
Sandstone and basalt Cyclic wetting and drying of a rock UCTD |
spellingShingle |
Sandstone and basalt Cyclic wetting and drying of a rock UCTD Loubser, M.J. (Michael John) Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
topic_facet |
Sandstone and basalt Cyclic wetting and drying of a rock UCTD |
description |
The cyclic wetting and drying of a rock is considered to be one of a number of physical weathering processes that have an effect on the weathering of rock. While the presence of moisture is known to be of critical importance for the activation and enhancement of a number of other known weathering processes, such as cryogenic weathering, salt weathering and slaking it is possible that the mere cyclic application and removal of moisture over time may also have an effect on the physical structure of a rock. The precise nature of the process is not well understood, however. This document begins by investigating the studies that have previously been undertaken to determine how the wetting and drying weathering process is defined and to ascertain the current state of knowledge regarding this process. After an establishment of background context, a physical experiment is carried out on Clarens Formation sandstone and Marion Island basalt to note the relationship between cyclic wetting and drying and the changing physical properties of the rocks. The rocks were subjected to 105 wetting and drying cycles over a period of 21 weeks. At the beginning of the experiment, physical rock properties were measured by way of the method laid out by Cooke (1979) and again at the end of the experiment. Since the experiment was carried out under static environmental conditions, the comparison of physical rock properties gives a good indication of how the rocks have altered their structure over the experimental time period. The results obtained in this experiment show that different rock types will change in different ways when exposed to a common weathering process. The basalt samples experienced no mass loss at, while the sandstones did. The sandstones, which are rocks that are of common lithology and of very similar physical and chemical structure reacted to the wetting and drying weathering process in ways that could not be predicted without experimentation. The data does show a clear causal link between the application of external ... |
author2 |
Sumner, P.D. (Paul) |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Loubser, M.J. (Michael John) |
author_facet |
Loubser, M.J. (Michael John) |
author_sort |
Loubser, M.J. (Michael John) |
title |
Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
title_short |
Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
title_full |
Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
title_fullStr |
Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
title_sort |
weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study |
publisher |
University of Pretoria |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11052010-142738/ |
genre |
Marion Island |
genre_facet |
Marion Island |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251 Loubser, MJ 2010, Weathering potential of wetting and drying of sandstone and basalt : a laboratory isolation study, MSc Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/29251> E10/750/gm http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11052010-142738/ |
op_rights |
© 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
_version_ |
1766066945355939840 |