This EarthCache considers an example of very dramatic weathering of a rock surface.
The location is on Marine Walk part of the seaside prominade in Central Swansea. The beach and sea is in front of the building, and a busy city centre a couple of hundred metres behind.
The time frame between 'before' and 'after' is startling.
Locate this wall sculpture at the location. Consider the following:-
Rock weathering is the process where rocks and minerals are broken down or dissolved at the Earth's surface. This process is influenced by various factors, including water, ice, acids, salts, plants, and animals. Weathering differs from erosion, which involves the transport of these weathered materials.
Chemical weathering is the process where rocks are broken down and altered through chemical reactions, primarily involving water and other atmospheric or dissolved substances. This process transforms the original mineral composition of the rock into new substances, weakening and potentially dissolving the rock.
Chemical weathering can involve several types of reactions:
- Oxidation: This occurs when oxygen reacts with certain minerals, like iron, causing them to rust and weaken.
- Hydrolysis: This involves water reacting with minerals, often transforming them into clay minerals.
- Carbonation: This is the process where rainwater containing dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rocks like limestone, leading to dissolution.
Salt weathering is a process where rocks break down due to the crystallization of salts within their pores and cracks. This process is particularly prevalent in coastal and arid environments where salt-laden solutions are readily available.The repeated wetting and drying or heating and cooling cycles cause the salts to crystallize, expand, and exert pressure on the surrounding rock, leading to its disintegration.
- Salt Solution Penetration: Salty water, often from seawater or groundwater, seeps into the porous or fractured rock.
- Evaporation and Crystallization: As the water evaporates, the dissolved salts precipitate out as crystals within the rock's pores and cracks.
- Pressure Exertion: The growing salt crystals exert pressure on the surrounding rock, gradually weakening and fracturing it.
- Repeated Cycles:The repeated wetting and drying, or heating and cooling, accelerates the crystallization process and the subsequent breakdown of the rock.
LOGGING TASKS
1. Find an unweathered wall sculpture nearby. Compare and contrast it with a damaged panel.
2. How long has it taken to change the rock wall sculpture? (Hint : Look on the buiding - above the artworks)
3. What may have happened here? Suggest which process(es)
4. In your opinion , suggest how might this damage have been prevented?
5. Look around is there any evidence of other weathering processes at work here?
6. Do you think the choice of material was appropriate for the location? Why or why not?
7. You must include a EITHER a picture of you or a personal item, IN YOUR LOG to include Mumbles Head in the background. See the example below:-
Taken from the sea wall opposite the sculptures -------> 
Answers should be submitted individually. GROUP answers will not be accepted
If the cache is logged without sending us COMPLETE answers, via the message center preferably, your log wil be deleted
☆☆☆ FTF honours to __welshman65__ ☆☆☆