The influence of mineralogy on weathering rates and processes in an acid-sensitive granitic catchment

Weathering in an upland catchment on granitic parent material has been studied by chemical and mineralogical analyses of soils. Long-term weathering rates for base cations, calculated from chemical analyses of the mineral horizons from soil profiles using Zr as an internal, immobile, index element, are among the smallest recorded for Scottish soils (1.7–3.1 meq m−2 a−1), indicating that these soils are susceptible to acid deposition. Sodium is the base cation lost to the greatest extent from the soils, due to weathering of plagioclase feldspar, mainly in the coarse size-fractions. Calcium is lost not only from plagioclase feldspar, but also from hornblende, grains of which show dissolution etch pits and denticulate surface features when examined by scanning electron microscopy. Weathering of hornblende, present in basic inclusions in the granite, is a significant weathering process in these soils. A range of values for 87Sr/86Sr ratios in stream-waters confirms the spatial variability of the material supplying Ca to the streams. The current weathering rate, calculated from input–output budgets to be 28.9 meq m−2 a−1, is much greater than the long-term weathering rate, but small compared to other catchments on similar parent material.