Underground Karsy Limestone Landscape - Aid Of Labelled Diagran Explain How Chemical Weathering Shaped The Following Flashcards
What is a form of an underground landform in karst areas
Dripstone - stalactites, stalagmites and pillars
What are the processes involved in underground landforms
Carbonation and solution
Where can a dripstone landform be found
Ailwee caves clare
What is the process that forms dripstone
The carbonation, solution and red crystallisation of calcite during evaporation of rainwater in underground caves
How does carbonation occur
When rainwater absorbs co2 from the air and a weak carbonic acid forms
What happens when acidic rainwater falls on limestone rock
Slow chemical reaction - H2O + CO2 -> H2CO3
Why does alkaline limestone rock dissolve
Acidic rainwater reacts with it
What does the calcium carbonate in limestone and rainwater form
Calcium bicarbonate - a very soluble new substance
H2CO3 + CaCO3 -> Ca(HCO3)2
What is solution
The removal of dissolved limestone by rainwater
Where does rainwater with calcium bicarbonate solution flow
Through joints and bedding planes of limestone deep underground
What happens when water reaches the roof of a cave
Water droplets form and drip constantly to the floor then it evaporates - reversing the carbonation process and a tiny ring of calcite attaches to roof
A stalactite
Is a buildup of calcite into ring straw like tube on roof of cave that hangs
What is a stalactite
When tiny rock fragments block the tube of calcite water floes outside into a carrot shaped formation
What forms when water evaporated slowly from long cracks or fissures in roof
A curtain shaped formation forms
How does a stalagmite form
When water droplets drop from stalactite into the ground leaving an irregularly shaped mound of calcite
