Talk:Mineral alteration

Geology Low‑importance

	Geology portal Talk:Mineral alteration is part of WikiProject Geology, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use geology resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.GeologyWikipedia:WikiProject GeologyTemplate:WikiProject GeologyGeology articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Rocks and minerals Low‑importance

	Earth sciences portal Mineral alteration is part of WikiProject Rocks and minerals, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use rocks and minerals resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.Rocks and mineralsWikipedia:WikiProject Rocks and mineralsTemplate:WikiProject Rocks and mineralsRocks and minerals articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Weathering

As the article states, weathering- with the aid of water as a catalyst assists or promotes alkali feldspar alteration into kaolinite by means of hydrolysis. This differs from the mechanical actions of weathering which include mass wasting by means of expansion/contraction, impact, or exfoliation. The alteration process in this case is a chemical reaction of specific rock components to dissolved ions, more pronounced by the increased acidity of the rain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by The shaman poet (talk • contribs) 15:49, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That's called chemical weathering. However, kaolinization may also occur as a result of hydrothermal alteration by circulating acidic groundwater. So as the lead specifically excludes weathering: It also differs from weathering - it seems the significant hydrothermal alteration regime should be mentioned. Vsmith (talk) 17:36, 19 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]