Fractional changes in elemental mass (Omega) and relative variation curves: Unravelling elemental mass redistribution patterns within the regolith

摘要

Within the arid climate of southern California, USA, we uncovered through trenching a granodioritic-tonalitic corestone, a partially encircling fractured rind, and an overlying Ah2 horizon composed of sandy soil. Using the geometric mean of chemical data derived from an adjacent erosionally exhumed corestone as a proxy for unweathered bedrock, the compositional linear trend derived from weathering was calculated. Average weathering intensities (t-values) and 95% confidence intervals are as follows: uncovered corestone = 0.56 (+/- 0.13), inner fractured rind = 0.93 (+/- 0.08), outer fractured rind = 1.5 (+/- 0.05), and Ah2 = 1.7 (+/- 0.09).