The Rock Varnish Revolution

New Insights from Microlaminations and the Contributions of Tanzhuo Liu

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5877479
AutoresRonald I Dorn (0000-0003-1343-4556, Arizona State University, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume3
Fascículo5
Páginas1804-1823
Data de publicação2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoGeography Compass (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1749-8198 • E-ISSN: 1749-8198
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00264.x
OpenAlexW2109474047
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas72

Rock varnish is a coating composed of clay minerals cemented to rock surfaces by oxides of manganese and iron. Although this dark brown-to-black accretion is most noticeable in arid regions, it occurs in all terrestrial weathering environments. Scholarly varnish research started with Alexander von Humboldt, when he asked how this external accretion forms and why manganese concentrations in varnish are 101-102 greater than in potential source materials. In the ensuing two centuries, investigations into rock varnish have been characterized by researchers studying only a handful of samples who have often used limited data to draw general conclusions. In contrast, nearly two decades of work by Tanzhuo Liu of Columbia University has yielded more than 10,000 varnish microstratigraphies obtained from rock depressions, analyses of which have provided new insights into the origin of rock varnish and the nature of climatic change in deserts, in addition to opening new research avenues in geomorphology and geoarchaeology

Archaeology · Arid · Coating · Earth science · Geochemistry · Geography · Manganese · Varnish · Weathering · Building materials and conservation · Chemistry · Geological and Geochemical Analysis · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Geology · Paleontology