Abstract
Disintegration of rock is one of the primary processes of soil formation and geomorphology and is affected considerably by water and heat. This study focused on the disintegration characteristics under laboratory conditions of typical purple mudstone from the Tuodian group of Jurassic red beds (J3t) in Tuodian Town, Shuangbai county, Yunnan Province of southern China. The fresh mudstone was subjected to alternating applications of water, heat and hydrothermal interaction during five treatments: wetting-drying (WD), saturation (ST), refrigeration-heating (RH), a combination of wettingdrying and refrigeration-heating (WDRH), and a combination of saturation and refrigeration-heating (STRH). Each treatment was run in twenty-four cycles. The results showed that there are three types of disintegration: collapsing disintegration, exfoliation disintegration and imperceptible disintegration. The cumulative disintegration rate (percentage of cumulative disintegrated mass to the initiative sample mass passed through a 2 mm sieve) produced a ‘S’-shape function when related to treatment cycle time and closely fit a logistic model (R2 > 0.99). The rank order of the cumulative disintegration rate resulting from the five treatments was as the following: WDRH > STRH > ST > WD > RH. Because of alternating periods of moisture and dryness, WD caused the most disintegration, while RH alone resulted in imperceptible disintegration. Additionally, there was a negative correlation between the disintegration rate of each treatment cycle (percentage of disintegrated mass to the treated sample mass) and treatment cycle number. There was a positive correlation between this rate and temperature change under moist conditions, indicating that a change in temperature greatly accelerates the disintegration of parent rock when water was supplied.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Birkeland PW (1984) Soil and geomorphology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bloom AL (1997) Geomorphology. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
Bozzano F, Gaeta M, Marcoccia S (2006) Weathering of Valle Ricca stiff and jointed clay. Engineering Geology 84:161–182.
Bradley WC (1963) Large-scale exfoliation in massive sandstones of the Colorado Plateau. Geological Society of America Bulletin 74:519–528.
Cantón Y, Solé-Benet A, Queralt I, Pini R (2001) Weathering of a gypsum-calcareous mudstone under semi-arid environment at Tabernas, SE Spain: laboratory and fieldbased experimental approaches. Catena 44: 111–132.
Cao YJ, Huang RQ, Zheng HJ, Feng T, Yang XB, Lv H (2006) Slaking Characteristics of Soft Rock of The Engineering Slope in A Hydroelectric Station in The Southwest of China. Journal of Engineering Geology 14(1): 35–40. (In Chinese)
Cheng X, Pan GQ (1990) Construction Techniques of Shields. Shanghai Scientific and Technical Literature Press, Shanghai. (In Chinese)
Doostmohammadi R, Moosavi M, Mutschler T, Osan C (2009) Influence of cyclic wetting and drying on swelling behavior of mudstone in south west of Iran. Environmental Geology 58: 999–1009.
Erguler ZA, Shakoor A (2009) Relative contribution of various climatic processes in disintegration of clay-bearing rocks. Engineering Geology 108: 36–42.
Feng QY, Han BP, Suo WH (1999) Characteristics of Water Rock Interaction of Red Bens and Its Application to Engineering in Southwestern Shandong. Journal of Engineering Geology (In Chinese) 7(3): 266–267.
Gamble JC (1971) Durability-plasticity classification of shales and other argillaceous rock. University of Illinois, Urbana (USA).
Goudie AS (1989) Weathering processes. In: Thomas DSG (ed.) Arid Zone Geomorphology. Belhaven-Halsted, London. pp11–24.
Goudie AS, Parker AG (1998) Experimental simulation of rapid rock block disintegration by sodium chloride in a foggy coastal desert. Journal of Arid Environments 40, 347–355.
Hale PA, Shakoor A (2003) A laboratory investigation of the effect of cyclic heating and cooling, wetting and drying, and freezing and thawing on the comprehensive strength of selected sandstones. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience IX 2:117–130.
He YR (2003) Purple Soil in China (2). Science Press, Beijing. (In Chinese)
Huang LY, Zhu C, Kong QY (2006) The contribution of lithological component to Sandstone Forest landform genesis in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. Journal of Anhui Normal University (Natural Science) 29(5): 484–489. (In Chinese)
Jiang HT, Xu FF, Cai Y, Yang DY (2006) Weathering characteristics of sloping fields in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China. Pedosphere 16(1): 50–55.
Koons D (1955) Cliff retreat in the southwestern United States. American Journal of Science 253: 44–52.
Kuksenko VS, Mansurov VA (1986) Localization of rock disintegration at different scale levels. Soviet Mining Science 22: 199–203.
Kurlenya MV, Oparin VN (1996) Scale factor of phenomenon of zonal disintegration of rock, and canonical series of atomic and ionic radii. Journal of Mining Science 32: 81–90.
Kyu NG, Chernov OI (1998) Role of fluid density in initiating oriented failure and disintegration of rock. Journal of Mining Science 34, 414–420.
Li ZM, Tang SJ, Zhang XW, He YR (1991) Purple soil in China (1). Science Press, Beijing. (In Chinese)
Liu CW, Lu SL (2000) Research on mechanism of mudstone degradation and softening in water. Rock and Soil Mechanics 21(1): 28–31. (In Chinese)
Liu GC (2008) Erosion Rule and Control Technology of Purple Soil. Sichuan University Publishing Company, Chengdu, China. (In Chinese)
Li HB (2006) Study on Construction Techniques of Composite Shields in Guangzhou Metro. Chongqing University, Chongqing, China. (In Chinese)
Lv YZ, Li BG (2006) Soil Science. China Agriculture Press, Beijing. (In Chinese)
Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources of China (2002) GB/T 14506.1-.28-93. Standards Press of China, Beijing. (In Chinese)
Moriwaki Y, Mitchell JK (1977) The role of dispersion in the slaking of intact clay. In: Sherard J L, Decker R S (eds.) Dispersive Clays, Related Piping, and Erosion in Geotechnical Projects. Philadelphia: American Society for Testing and Materials. pp. 287–302.
Newman G (1983) The effect of water chemistry on the laboratory compression and permeability characteristic of North Sea Chalks. Journal of Petroleum Technology 35: 976–980.
Odintsev VN (1994) Mechanism of the zonal disintegration of a rock mass in the vicinity of deeep-level workings. Journal of Mining Science 30, 334–343.
Oyama T, Chigira M (2000) Weathering rate of mudstone and tuff on old unlined tunnel walls. Engineering Geology 55:15–27.
Phienwej N (1987) Ground response and support performance in a sheared shale, Stillwater Tunnel. Univ. of Illinois, Utah. Urbana (USA). pp 59–62.
Phillips JD, Turkington AV, Marion DA (2008) Weathering and vegetation effects in early stages of soil formation. Catena 72: 21–28.
Qian QH, Zhou XP, Yang HQ, Zhang YX, Li XH (2009) Zonal disintegration of surrounding rock mass around the diversion tunnels in Jinping II Hydropower Station, Southwestern China. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 51, 129–138.
Robinson ES (1970) Mechanical disintegration of the Navajo Sandstone in Zion Canyon, Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin 81:2799–2806.
Sarman R, Shakoor A, Palmer DF (1994) A multiply regression approach to predict swelling in mudrocks. Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists XXXI(1): 102–121.
Sancho C, Fort R, Belmonte A (2003) Weathering rates of historic sandstone structures insemiarid environments (Ebro basin, NE Spain) Catena 53: 53–64.
Sun CJ, Ning JG, Tan YL, Li HT (2009) The Study on Zonal Disintegration of Surrounding Rock in Deep Mudstone Roadway under High Stress. Proceedings of 2009 International Symposium on Risk Control and Management of Design, Construction and Operation in Underground Engineering 225–228.
Turkington A, Paradise T (2005) Sandstone weathering: a century of research and innovation. Geomorphology 67:229–253
Yamaguchi H, Yoshida Y, Kuroshima I, Fukuda M (1988) Slaking and Shear Properties of Mudstone. Rock Mechanics and Power Plants, Balkema, Rotterdam 1: 133–144.
Yang RD, Wei X, Wen XF, Sheng XY (2009) Application of the google earth system to the study of carbonate-derived laterite and Karst geomorphology. Earth and Environment 37(4): 319–325. (In Chinese)
Yuan ZG, Zhou G, Tian DL, Yuan SB, Zhang CM, Liu WD (2005) Process of Loss of Soil and Water in Red Soil and Purple Soil Areas of Recovering Plants. Journal of Central South Forestry University 25(6): 1–7. (In Chinese)
Yu HM, Hu YX, Zhang CG (2002) Research on disintegration characters of red mudstone of Xirangpo in Badong area of the reservoir of Three Gorge Project. Geological Science and Technology Information 21(4): 77–80. (In Chinese)
Wu YP, Yu HM, Hu YX (2006) Research on engineering geological characters of aubergine mudstone of Badong new city zone. Rock and Soil Mechanics 27(7): 1201–1208. (In Chinese)
Wu H, Guo ZK, Fang Q, Zhang YD, Liu JC (2009) Mechanism of zonal disintegration phenomenon in enclosing rock mass around deep tunnels. Journal of Central South University of Technology 16, 303–311.
Zhao (XG) (2003) A comparison of two methods for determining densities of rocks and minerals. Geophysical & Geochemical Exploration 27(3): 202–205. (In Chinese)
Zhang GS, Zhu C, Yu JB, Li ZX, Kong QY (2010) Experimental study on lothological characteristic with Danxia landform, Jianglang Mountain, Zhejiang Province. Journal of Mountain Science 28(3): 301–312. (In Chinese)
Zhang JG, Qu YX (2005) A quantitative research on the chemical composition and clay minerals in marly stones and their residuals in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. Geological Review 51(2): 219–224. (In Chinese)
Zhang RZ (1992) Dry Valley in Hengduan Mountains Region. Science Press, Beijing. Pp:159–162. (In Chinese)
Zhou Y, Peng ZB, Chen A (2009) The disintegration characteristics of tertiary silty mudstone along Xiangtan to Hengyang expressway. Journal of Hunan University of Science & Technology (Natural Science Edition) 24(4): 52–55. (In Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, D., Chen, A. & Liu, G. Laboratory investigation of disintegration characteristics of purple mudstone under different hydrothermal conditions. J. Mt. Sci. 9, 127–136 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-012-2204-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-012-2204-1