| A detailed study has been made of several weathering profiles on the late-Hercynian Caldas de Reyes granite, NW-Spain. The field examination has been complemented by laboratory studies of large thin sections of hardened weathered material in conjunction with X-ray diffraction analyses. Three groups of features have been investigated by these methods. (a) General structure of regoliths. — They consist of a saprolite, mostly covered by colluvium. The latter can be distinguished from the saprolite by field methods, heavy mineral content and fabric analyses. The saprolites generally display spheroidal weathering. Microfabric analyses showed that spheroidal weathering is conditioned by micro-crack systems. Weathering starts in the joints; it was found that... |
