Plagioclase weathering in the groundwater system of a sandy, silicate aquifer

The weathering rate of plagioclase was estimated in the groundwater system of a sandy, silicate aquifer formed after the Wisconsin Glacial Stage. The study area is an isthmus lying between Crystal and Big Muskellunge Lakes in northern Wisconsin, USA. Plagioclase occupies 3% of the quartz and K-feldspar dominated sediments. Groundwater in the study area is recharged in part by precipitation through the isthmus soils and in part by seepage from Crystal Lake, which is of low ionic strength and chemically in steady state. Water analysis revealed that the chemistry of groundwater recharged from Crystal Lake is regulated by mineral dissolution reactions. The rate constant for plagioclase was estimated using mass balances for sodium concentrations along a groundwater flowline from Crystal Lake. For this calculation, various kinds of hydrological/mineralogical information were used: groundwater flow path from oxygen isotope analysis, groundwater travel times from flow modelling, mineral composition from microprobe analysis and surface area of minerals from BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) analysis. The overall range of the estimation was less than an order of magnitude (3.5 x 10(-16) to 3.4 x 10(-15) mol/m(2)/s). The result is up to three orders of magnitude slower than the previous field estimates, which applied geometric methods in measuring mineral surface areas. However, this result is somewhat higher than the estimates reported by other BET area-based studies, which were undertaken on soil profiles having different hydrological conditions. This rate difference is interpreted as a result of higher mineral reactivity owing to younger sediment age. The rate difference is smaller when this result is compared with the estimates from the soils of similar age, indicating that the differences in hydrological condition are not sufficient to explain the weathering rate discrepancy between the laboratory and field studies, which is up to five orders of magnitude. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.