Watershed geochemical mass balance

Veibel, M. A. (1985), "Geochemical Mass Balances and Weathering Rates in Forested Watersheds of the Southern Blue Ridge", Am. J. Sci. 285, 904-930. 

Rates of Feldspar Weathering in Natural Weathering Profiles from Geochemical Mass Balance of Small Watersheds... 

Geochemical mass balance studies (also known as input-output budgets) invoke a simple conservation-of-mass principle. If the flux of any element leaving a watershed (e.g., via streams), and the flux of that element into the watershed (e.g., via atmospheric precipitation) are known, the difference between the two can be calculated, and this difference must be due to the sum of all reactions and transformations involving that element which took place within the watershed. Pioneering mass balance studies on weathering profiles and/or small watersheds include those of Garrels and Mackenzie (,51, 52) and Cleaves and Bricker and their... 

Rates estimated in the above studies are shown in Table I. Watershed-scale geochemical mass balance studies yield calculated feldspar weathering rates one to three orders of magnitude slower than rates determined in laboratory experiments. 

Because mass balance is simply an accounting of the flux of material into a system minus the flux of material out of the system, the geochemical mass-balance approach is well suited to interpreting weathering reactions in watersheds (catchments) and in other environmental settings... 

O Brien A. K., Rice K. C., Bricker O. P., Kennedy M. M., and Anderson R. T. (1997) Use of geochemical mass balance modelling to evaluate the role of weathering in determining stream chemistry in five Mid-Atlantic watersheds on different lithologies. In Water Quality Trends and Geochemical Mass Balances Advances in Hydrologic Processes (eds. N. E. Peters, O. P. Bricker, and M. M. Kennedy). Wiley, New York, pp. 309-334. 

Velbel M. A. (1986) The mathematical basis for determining the rates of geochemical and geomorphic processes in small forested watersheds by mass balance examples and implications. In Rates of Chemical Weathering of Rocks and Minerals (eds. S. M. Coleman and D. P. Dethier). Academic Press, Orlando, FL, pp. 439-451. 

Velbel M. A. (1992) Geochemical mass balances and weathering rates in forested watersheds of the southern Blue Ridge III. Cation budgets and the weathering rate of amphibole. Am. J. Sci. 292, 58-78. 

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