Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rock induced by reactions between rock minerals and groundwater.
Weathering of granite rock.
For example the dartmoor granite was emplaced around 280 million years ago with the cover rocks eroded away soon afterwards exposing it to chemical and physical weathering processes.
Hence from the engineering point of view it becomes very important to classify the weathering state of a rock mass.
If surface erosion is limited then weathering over thousands and hundreds of thousands of years reduces solid rock to a thick mantle of disintegrated rotten rock.
Hydrolysis is the chemical weathering of minerals by a mildly acidic water that forms when rains dissolves trace gases in the atmosphere.
The reaction of feldspar minerals in granite with rainwater produces kaolinite white clay known as china clay used in the production of porcelain paper and glass.
Chemical weathering mostly depends on the rock type and temperature.
Weathering of granitic rocks in east antarctica is controlled mainly by oxidation.
Various researchers engineers and geologists 4 6 12 16 26 32 have tried to do.
For instance limestone is more prone to chemical erosion compared to granite.
Breakdown of rock to depths of many metres induced by the chemical alteration of rock minerals by groundwater.