Chemical Weathering of Pleistocene Glacial Outwash Sediments: A Comparison of Contemporary and Long-term Rates for Soils and Groundwaters

Pore water solutes increase to depths of up to six meters in unsaturated 10 kyr-old glacial outwash sediments in the Trout Lake Basin of northern Wisconsin, USA. After correction for evapotranspiration, these increases reflect weathering gradients produced from plagioclase, calc-magnesium pyroxenes, and amphiboles. In spite of relatively abundant K-feldspar, solute K and Rb reflect negative gradients produced by nutrient plant uptake and cycling. Weathering rates are calculated from solute gradients (b ₛₒₗᵤₜₑ), hydraulic fluxes (q ₕ ), volumetric BET surface areas (S ᵥ ), and mineral-specific stoichiometric coefficients (β) such that [Formula: see text] Average plagioclase weathering rates (R ₚₗₐg = 1.6–3.1 × 10⁻¹⁵ mol m⁻² s⁻¹) bracket rates calculated for other Quaternary glaciated landscapes. Deeper soil pore waters are as chemically concentrated as underlying groundwaters which, based on hydrologic analyses, have traveled distances up to several kilometers over transient times of hundreds of years. Pore water recharge essentially sets solute compositions close to thermodynamic saturation, thus limiting additional weathering potential along these ground water flow paths. Solid-state elemental and mineral gradients, unlike solute gradients, are essentially invariant with soil depth, reflecting low weathering intensities produced over the relatively short geologic time since sediment deposition. A spreadsheet calculator reproduces modest mass loses from such profiles and indicates that present-day weathering is kinetically and not saturation/transport controlled.