Читать книгу The Economic Aspect of Geology - C. K. Leith - Страница 29

Fig. 1. Graphic representation of volume change in weathering of a Georgia granite.ToList

Mineral products formed by weathering from common igneous rocks include soils, clay, bauxite, and certain iron, chromite, and nickel ores. Again the commercial importance of this group is not large, as compared with products formed in other ways described below.

The same weathering processes described above for igneous rocks cause considerable changes of economic significance in deposits formed as igneous after-effects. In some cases they result in removing the less valuable minerals, thus concentrating the more valuable ones, as well as in softening the rock and making it easier to work; and in other cases they tend to remove the valuable constituents, which may then be redeposited directly below or may be carried completely out of the vicinity. The oxide zones of many ore bodies are formed by these processes.