Rate controls on the chemical weathering of natural polymineralic material. I. Dissolution behaviour of polymineralic assemblages determined using batch and unsaturated column experiments

Abstract

Chemical weathering rates for a mudstone obtained from a mining environment were investigated using a combination of batch reactors and hydrologically unsaturated column experiments. Results of tracer tests were combined with relationships between solute concentrations, mass fluxes, flow rates and residence times, and used to calculate element release rates and infer rate-controlling mechanisms for the two different experimental environments.