Chemical weathering in a drainage basin underlain by old red sandstone

A hydrochemical budget is used to quantify the rate of chemical weathering and solutional denudation on Old Red Sandstone in East Twin drainage basin (0.2 km2) on the Mendip Hills for the 1972–73 Water Year. Net nutrient uptake by the biomass and precipitation inputs are subtracted from stream solute outputs to give an estimate of the solutes released to the system by weathering. The mineralogies of the sandstone and the soil are compared to predict possible weathering reactions for the primary and secondary minerals. Tentative estimates of primary mineral alteration and secondary mineral formation are then made by substituting the hydrochemical balances into the formulated weathering reactions. Finally the rate of solutional denudation (0.8 tonnes/a or 1.6 mm/100 a) is compared with other estimates of solutional and mechanical denudation at East Twin and with similarly derived results for other lithologies.