Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
A) CHARACTERISTTCS OF GRANITE
i) llinerol Composition
- 6ronite is susceptible to
Clinate
! High prevoiling lemperotures fovouring ropid rotes of chenicol
reoction, for e.9. hydrolysis is speeded up 2 + times for every looC
rise in lemperoture;
> High precipifdtion - ovoilobility of woter for chemicol processes.
Vegetation
> Protects soil from roinwcsh erosion but releoses lorge mosses of
vegetql motter - production of orgonic ocids - focilitote rockdecoy.
! E.g. the qnnuol releose of orgonic mciter from tropicql roanforests is
10 - 20 times thot from coniferous forests.
. Where the rock hos o complex ond deep system of joints, weothering will
proceed ropidly and the BSW will be highly irregulor ond found ot
greoter depth below ground level.
FiE)re 23- Bosol surfoce of weothering
{ Model implies thot over tine, the uppermost zones will grow ot the exPense
of lhe lowermost zones ond ihqi the whole weqthering loyer will evenluqlly
become highly rotted residual debris
4 Zone 1
'L Zone 2
. Less decornposed
. comprises some residuol debris. some'gruss" (q tnoss of ploty frogmenls
produced by breqkdown of feldspor crystols) dnd q number of'flooting"
ond rounded core-stones.
. Peferred to os zone of residuol debris ond gruss togelher with rounded
cote-stones
. Occupy up to 50"L of the zone: Moy be up to 60 rn in thickness
,1" Zone 3
* Zone 4
loie ? iup b
6&i}l RrsiCual
ddds + qruss +
(b):Vy'eath$rd
larer ronsisling ol
Zono 3 (7"17rn): Eridr.laldeb s !!1lll
Qruss + 16q6 reblively lsr
rumber ot corcslones
aedaioular
Zo,re 4 (8ir)i
lntialeeiiig
oli{irls. solli
b€dtuit
C) 6RANITE LANDFORM5
+ Occur in oreos where gronife hos 6een weathered into smoller boulders by
frost ocfion ond hove dccumuloted in o low lying oreo.
iii) Tofoni
Tofoni ore deep co\ilies or hollows produced by solt crystql growth in the
sides of rock ouicrops ond boulders.
+ occur in rnony krnds of rocks, but ore usuolly found in gronulor or crystolline
rocks such os sondstones or gronites
Formotion storis when wofer brings dissolved minerols to the ioints qnd
other lines of weoknesses of ihe rock. When the wofer evoporotes, -ihe
minerols form crystdls fhof force smoll porticles \o lloke oft the rock. The
hollows ore enlarged by progressive floking of the interior surfoces ond
their grohulor disjnlegrotion. Wihd probobly removes loosenad moteriol frorn
lhe co'rilies
Figure 27 . Huge lofoni in the Nomib Deserf
d They are considered relics (remndnts) of fortner londscopes ond resull frbm
long-term differentiol weothering ond erosion of fhe bedrock which, ofter
the removol of the weolhered moteriol, leqds ro lhe emetgence of the
resis-ton-f rocks 05 tors.
.L Upper ports of iors often comprise detoched ond rouhded corestones, with
diometers ronging from 3m lo 8m
+ Although fors ore found widely ond ore not res-tTicted lo gronitic rocks, the
rocky tors of Dortmoon in soufh-west Englond, ore the besf known
,iL The formstion of tors hqs generoted much debote omong geomorphologists.
Vorious hypotheses h@te 6een proposed io exploin the formolion of Jors. A
common feoture omong the hypotheses is thol tors ore formed in oreos of
widely spoced joinfing ond thetefote ore more resistqnt to weothering ond
erosion thon surrounding oreos with closely spoced joints.
'4 Linton (1955), who worked on the Dortmoor Tors, proposed o two-stoge
model thdt involves o prolonged period of deep chemicol weothering during
ihe worm cnd humid Pliocene Period.
',.L Feldspor is lhe leost resistont minerol to the chemicql weathering process of
hydrolysis while quqrlz is the most resistont minerol. Deep chemicol
weotherihg of feldspor is most octive in worm ond humid conditions,
especially in grqnite with well-developed joini systems ollowing gteotet
permeobilify.
'l The moin processd involved in deep chernicol weotheting of gronite include
hydrolysis qnd solution which occur when ociduloted roinwoter penelrqte
olong joints into the body of the gronitic moss. fn hydrolysis, the hydrogen
ions in wqter reoct direcfly with feldspor to form kqolinite.
{' The joints ollow the reody penetrotion of woter ond increqse the sub-
surfoce oreq of the rock for physicol ond chemicol ottock.
+ The pottern of the orthogonol joints delermines the pqttern of the tor thol
is formed. The widening of moderotely-spoced ond widely-spoced joints will
result in ihe formotion of rectongulor blocks or corestones.
;! The corestones becqme smoother qnd rounder over titne when chemicol
processes selectively ottcck the edges of the rectongulor blocks, resulting in
spheroidol weothering qs grqnite is mcde up of minerols of vorying
resistonce. \
'* This prodlces q fine regolith (sond ond cloy) in closely spoced joints ond
corestones in noderotely /widely loinled rock.
Ih this is followed by the removol of the r€golath by
ternperote oreos,
solifluction which is the process whereby moisture-lqden soil flows
downslope, during the periglociol Pleistocene Period ond the.iors will be
exposed.
For tors 1o be formed, the rote of erosionol stripping must be foster thon
'fhe weof herinq process.
j0inling
-Sepwinar 2
(r ) D€ep .h emi.a I werth ering to llow.d by etrip pin I
Linton (19s5) arsued that the well developed jointinq system (of
irrequla. spacins)was chemlcilly weathered. This occurted undei
humid conditions during wanrr, wet periods in the Tetiary era.
Decomposition was most rapid alonq joint planes. Whe.e the
distance betweea the joint plares wrs argest, masses of qtanite
.emained relatively unweatheted and formed. essentially,
embryonictD6- 5ubseq u€n! denudrt'on, perhaps under Pe.iqlaci: I
An altemrtive theory prcposed by Palmcrand Nielson (1962) also Nmple ofequiffnality. This means that diffetent
Tols are a qood
relates tor formation to the varied spdcing ofjoints within the processes.an produce the samc end result- Thus it is hiqhly
qr.nite. They believe that frost action under periglacial conditions debatable whether tors arc formed by chemical weathednq or
was the dominant procesr. this led to the removal ofthe mo.e mechanical weathering, or a €ombination ofthe two- Whatis clear
closely iointed po.tions ofthe rock. The evidence lendstosupPoti however. is th.t the joints and beddinq planes, and the qrctri
their idea, !s the amount of kaolin in thejoinis is limited; so too is strength and resist:nce ofthe rocks have dcteniined the dist.ib
the amount ofrounding that ha! occurcd- Both ofthese features ution oftou on the landscape.
are expected to be dominant if chemica I weathering were the main
process in operation. Palmerand Neikon sugqestthat intense frost
shati:ering followed by solifluction, .emoved the finer material and
leftthe tors stinding (Fiqure 2-23).
(b) strm'nit Frostactioninwelt jojntcd
(.) Fron.cfi on d!rinq peiqlacial periodr
tor rrcas loosensblo.ks
41
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A Level - Geology & Geography
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Produced wah.hc support ofthe Devon RIGS Group,
lLe Action lot Wildlifa rh. Dartmoor aiodiversity PDject
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F., r! rr r.f.r.rlirn. rrrl ir : !i ol olrrx 1.,1 \rrr{. Dandoor National Park Auth.'ily or the vL/or.l wrd. ircb
<hitt,rwwv, danmoornpa !ov !k-
0a{Jnoor tl.tiotral Prrk Aunrorjly, fhis publicztion may ]'c photocopi.d fot
P.rkc, Bov.y Trn.ey, Ncur'ton Abbol, tducational putposes.
lrnvo. lOr3 slQ 1a|1016261a32093
+ Ate steep sided isolqted hills stonding prominenlly high obove surrounding
plqins /pedimenf
.L The noture of lhe joihls determihes ihe shope of the inselberg thof is
forned. The shope of the inselberg is determined by the bosol surfoce of
weothering (BSW) which is influenced by the jointing potterns.
"l If the BSW is q series of domicol rises qnd bosins, the inselbery formed will
be o domed inselberg. If the BSW is irregulor, o blocky inselberg will be
formed.
inselberg severol
Fig 39o. The development of ruwores ond low domes by diffe.e^tial deep
w€othering ond subseguent surfoce stripping of the deep wealhered loyer
LANO.SURFACE PRIOR TO DIEP W€ATHEiING
47
High dome produced
il' Inselbergs ond their surrounding ploins qre the result of deep weothering
followed by removol (or stripping) of the weothered loyer ond scorp
relreot ovet geologicol time.
.L fnselbergs originqte qs domicol rises below the ground surfoce which ore
loter exposed ot lhe surfoce by the removol of the ovetlying weolhered
loyer (or soprolite).
't The cctuol form on inselberg will foke depends on the spocing of ihe joints,
which deterrnines the shope of the bosol surfqce of weothering..
* Sub-oeriol uedthe ng: weqthering which tokes ploce below the ground
level.
& one difficulty posed by this hypolhesis is thot fhe qeot height of some
domes (more thon 30 m) connot be exploined by o single episode of
weothering ond stripping.
"t These rock piles of ongulqr ondjoint-bounded gronite block arc fotmed by
the disinfegrqtion of domed ond blocky inselbergs
d! These processes result in the formotion of smqll rocky hills r4ith costelloted
profiles, known os costle koppies.
Figure 4Q. Costle Koppies