Bulletin of the Geological Society of Finland (Dec 1993)
Methods applied in determining the variations of strength and structure of plutonic rock material exposed to artificial weathering treatment
Abstract
In this study the most significant factors determining the weathering of natural rock material proved to be the water saturation of the samples and the chemical composition of the pore water. The action of hydrolysis caused by the acidity of the pore water, combined with repeated freezing and thawing in 100% relative humidity proved to be the most significant factor in the alteration of the strength and structure of the studied material, the Inari anorthosite. The action of these methods disintegrated the rock material more than any other weathering treatment or any other combination of the treatments used in this study. The changes in the strength of the rock material were most reliably illustrated by the changes in tensile strength, measured by the changes in the modulus of rupture and the point load index. In several cases the standard deviations of the results exceeded the absolute changes of the corresponding parameter value. By progressing weathering, the porosity of the Inari anorthosite changed in such a way that both the frost and salt weathering increased primarily the proportion of the large pores while the hydrolysis increased the proportion of the small pores of the total porosity. It is rather difficult to simulate in the laboratory the changes in strength and structure of building stone caused by natural weathering, since the effectiveness of the climatic and environmental factors affecting the rock surface in real conditions varies from case to case and according to the duration of the weathering action. An unweathered firm silicate rock with low porosity, such as the Inari anorthosite, has such a resistance against weathering that the necessary series of laboratory experiments to determine the changes in strength inevitably take several months.
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