Oxidation of sulfides and rapid weathering in recent landslides

Emberson, Robert; Hovius, Niels; Galy, Albert; Marc, Odin

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-727-2016

Articles | Volume 4, issue 3

Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 727–742, 2016

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-727-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 727–742, 2016

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-727-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 4, issue 3

Research article 22 Sep 2016

Research article | 22 Sep 2016

Oxidation of sulfides and rapid weathering in recent landslides

Robert Emberson et al.

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Final revised paper (published on 22 Sep 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 06 Jun 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Review of Emberson et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 Jul 2016
RC2: 'Review of Emberson et al., Oxidation of sulphides and rapid weathering in recent landslides.', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Jul 2016
RC3: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #3, 12 Jul 2016
AC1: 'Authors response to reviews and revised manuscript + figures', Robert Emberson, 03 Aug 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Robert Emberson on behalf of the Authors (03 Aug 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (25 Aug 2016) by Jane Willenbring

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (05 Sep 2016) by Frédéric Herman(Editor)

Short summary

Rapid dissolution of bedrock and regolith mobilised by landslides can be an important control on rates of overall chemical weathering in mountain ranges. In this study we analysed a number of landslides and rivers in Taiwan to better understand why this occurs. We find that sulfuric acid resulting from rapid oxidation of highly reactive sulfides in landslide deposits drives the intense weathering and can set catchment-scale solute budgets. This could be a CO₂ source in fast-eroding mountains.