『Abstract
The reactive transport model FLOTRAN was used to forward-model
weathering profiles developed on granitic outwash alluvium over
40-3000 ka from the Merced, California (USA) chronosequence as
well as deep granitic regolith developed over 800 ka near Davis
Run, Virginia (USA). Baseline model predictions that used laboratory
rate constants (km), measured fluid flow
velocities (v), and BET volumetric surface areas for the parent
material (AB,mo) were not consistent
with measured profiles of plagioclase, potassium feldspar, and
quartz. Reaction fronts predicted by the baseline model are deeper
and thinner than the observed, consistent with faster rates of
reaction in the model. Reaction front depth in the model depended
mostly upon saturated versus unsaturated hydrologic flow conditions,
rate constants controlling precipitation of secondary minerals,
and the average fluid flow velocity (va).
Unsaturated hydrologic flow conditions (relatively open with respect
to CO2(g) resulted in the prediction of deeper
reaction fronts and significant differences in the separation
between plagioclase and potassium feldspar reaction fronts compared
to saturated hydrologic flow (relatively closed with respect to
CO2(g)). Under saturated or unsaturated flow
conditions, the rate constant that controls precipitation rates
of secondary minerals must be reduced relative to laboratory rate
constants to match observed reaction front depths and measured
pore water chemistry. Additionally, to match the observed reaction
front depths, va was set lower than the measured
value, v, for three of the four profiles. The reaction front gradients
in mineralogy and pore fluid chemistry could only be modeled accurately
by adjusting values of the product kmAB,mo. By assuming km
values were constrained by laboratory data field observations
were modeled successfully with TST-like rate equations by dividing
measured values of AB,mo by factors
from 50 to 1700. Alternately, with sigmoidal or Al-inhibition
rate models, this adjustment factor ranges from 5 to 170. Best-fit
models of the wetter, hydrologically saturated Davis Run profile
required a smaller adjustment to AB,mo
than the drier hydrologically unsaturated Merced profiles. We
attributed the need for large adjustments in va
and AB,mo necessary for the Merced
models to more complex hydrologic flow that decreased the reactive
surface area in contact with bulk flow water, e.g., dead-end pore
spaces containing fluids that are near or at chemical equilibrium.
Thus, rate models from the laboratory can successfully predict
weathering over millions of years, but work is needed to understand
how to incorporate changes in what controls the relationship between
reactive surface area and hydrologic flow.』
1. Introduction
2. Site description and field data
2.1. Merced
2.2. Davis Run
2.3. Key features of the reaction fronts
3. Methods and model inputs
3.1. Reaction fronts
3.2. Merced parent material mineralogy and surface area
3.3. Davis Run parent material mineralogy and surface area
3.4. Model specifications
3.4.1. Climate and hydrology
3.4.2. Aqueous chemistry and thermodynamic data
3.4.3. Mineral thermodynamics and kinetics
3.4.4. Alternative rate laws
4. Results
4.1. Merced baseline model
4.2. Merced baseline model sensitivity
4.3. Merced best-fit models
4.4. Solution chemistry predictions
4.5. Davis Run best-fit model
4.6. Best-fit model sensitivity
5. Discussion
5.1. Controls on depth of the reaction front
5.2. Controls on slope (or thickness) of the reaction front
5.3. Field versus laboratory
5.4. Implications and summary
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Depth-averaged profile calculation
Appendix B. Calculation of mineral- and grain-size specific surface
area
Appendix C. Supplementary data
References