Experimental Study of the Mechanism of Acid Rain-Gabbro Interaction

Abstract

As a common natural disaster, acid rain could not only cause serious environmental pollution, but also endanger the engineering properties of rock due to water-rock interactions. The failure of slopes of mafic igneous or ultramafic igneous rock is not unusual in areas affected by acid rain, but the specific mechanism of instability remains to be studied. In this study, fresh gabbro samples were processed, and a simulated acid rain treatment of pH 3.0 in the laboratory was carried out. Then the shear strength parameters were evaluated on samples before and after the acid rain test. Finally, the samples were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Polarizing Microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze the mechanism of acid rain-gabbro interaction. Overall, this study provided useful insights toward the evaluation of engineering properties of mafic igneous and ultramafic igneous rocks in acid rain area.