image: Geophysical surveys reveal subsurface weathering indirectly. The arrival of seismic energy, generated by a sledge hammer and recorded by geophones, is used to calculate seismic velocities. Slower seismic velocities are indicative of subsurface layers that are more porous, and thus more intensively weathered. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Sept. 18, 2019, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by J.L. Hayes at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and colleagues was titled, "Porosity production in weathered rock: Where volumetric strain dominates over chemical mass loss." view more
Credit: Credit: Megan Thompson-Munson