ABSTRACT
Understanding weathering of silicate rocks and the factors controlling them can in part be achieved by well-constrained laboratory dissolution experiments. For the most part, the results of these experiments are based on analysis of major element concentrations in solution and careful examination of mineral surfaces (e.g. White & Brantley 1995, Lasaga 1998). Recently, measurements of radiogenic isotopes in dissolution experiments have illuminated several aspects of chemical weathering that were not previously well understood (Blum & Erel 2003, and references therein).
