Weathering Rinds: Archives of Paleoenvironments on Mount Kenya, East Africa

Weathering-rind thicknesses on pebble- and cobble-size sediment have been used for the past half-century, at least, as an age indicator of postdepositional time following a geologic event. In mountainous terrain, rind thickness is taken as a measurement of weathering over time frames of 0.5 m.yr.; v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of geology 2012-11, Vol.120 (6), p.591-602
Main Authors: Mahaney, W. C., Krinsley, D. H., Allen, C. C. R., Langworthy, K., Ditto, J., Milner, M. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological weathering
Coatings
Glacial landforms
Glaciation
Materials
Measurement
Microorganisms
Minerals
Moraines
Mountains
Paleoclimatology
Sediments
Volcanoes
Weathering processes
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Summary:Weathering-rind thicknesses on pebble- and cobble-size sediment have been used for the past half-century, at least, as an age indicator of postdepositional time following a geologic event. In mountainous terrain, rind thickness is taken as a measurement of weathering over time frames of 0.5 m.yr.; variable thicknesses are used to discriminate relative ages of glacial deposits. The effects of chemical and physical weathering that together produce rinds are only rarely considered, and most research objectives have centered on lichen alteration of clast surfaces. Recent microscopic analyses of weathering rinds on volcanic clasts of ∼70.0-ka to ∼2.0-m.yr. age produced new data on weathering products as well as unexpected incorporated biotic materials undergoing diagenesis. The question as to how much physical/mineral/chemical/biotic paleoenvironmental data might be archived in rinds is discussed. The character and classification of organic materials undergoing diagenesis are also discussed.
ISSN:0022-1376
1537-5269
DOI:10.1086/667805