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Geochemical And Glacio-Geomorphic Implications Of Basalt Weathering In The Queen Maud Mountains, Antarctica, R. W. Talkington, Paul Andrew Mayewski, H. E. Gaudette

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Summary. The weathering of a suite of basalt clasts. that have been transported by mass wasting downslope in the Cumulus Hills region of the Queen Maud Mountains. Antarctica. is examined from both geochemical and glacio-geomorphic viewpoints. Chemical weathering. predominantly oxidation and hydration. increases in severity from clast core to rim for the suite. These weathering processes and concomitant formation of a weathering rind are suggested to be an accumulative process. culminating in the disaggregation of the rock due in part both to the chemical breakdown of the interstitial and intersertal basaltic glass and to physical weathering processes. Mass wasting rates …