Abstract
CHEMICAL denudation includes the set of processes which mobilise ions from rocks and carry them to the sea in solution. These processes, and the rates at which they act, are of considerable importance in the development of landforms and soils because they are responsible for weakening rocks which then become susceptible to soil formation and erosion. However, very few adequate measurements of such rates have been made. I report here a set of such measurements from tropical catchments in Kenya. They are the first set of reported values that correctly measure the rate of chemical denudation in the tropics because they include only true denudation components1 rather than biogenic and atmospheric inputs. Even for temperate regions I am not aware of a set of such data over a range of climate from wet to dry. The data presented here indicate how chemical denudation varies over such a gradient.
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DUNNE, T. Rates of chemical denudation of silicate rocks in tropical catchments. Nature 274, 244–246 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274244a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/274244a0
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