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Techniques for measuring rock weathering: application to a dated fan segment sequence in southern Tunisia
Author(s) -
White Kevin,
Bryant Rob,
Drake Nick
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9837(1998110)23:11<1031::aid-esp919>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - schmidt hammer , geology , standard deviation , weathering , root mean square , surface roughness , surface finish , sequence (biology) , displacement (psychology) , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , mineralogy , statistics , mathematics , materials science , psychology , compressive strength , engineering , electrical engineering , composite material , psychotherapist , biology , genetics
There are a number of techniques for estimating the amount of weathering a clast has undergone. These usually have the objective of establishing an ordinal chronology of geomorphological surfaces, or investigation of site‐specific conditions affecting weathering rates. Three such techniques are applied to a dated sequence of alluvial fan segments in southern Tunisia. Two of these techniques depend on measuring surface roughness (the micro‐roughness meter and a displacement approach) and one uses the structural weakening of the rock fabric (Schmidt hammer). The micro‐roughness meter enables calculation of standard deviation of surface height variation, root mean square roughness and surface autocorrelation function. Of these techniques, Schmidt hammer rebound values, standard deviation, root mean square roughness and the displacement technique show systematic changes on the three fan segments which are statistically significant at the 0·05 level. However, the amount of variance in all datasets is very large, indicating the need for caution in application of these techniques for relative dating. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.