CHEMICAL EROSION PROCESSES AND RATES IN AN ARCTIC ALPINE ENVIRONMENT: SWEDISH LAPLAND

This paper assesses the role of chemical processes in the erosion, and denudation of periglacial alpine environments. It draws primarily from detailed chemical studies in the alpine zone of northwest Swedish Lapland. The nature or kind of chemical weathering processes has been found to be similar to those operating in periglacial environments elsewhere. Comparison of weathering rates among various environments reveals periglacial chemical weathering to be generally slower than that in the tropical and temperate latitudes, but overlapping with the lower values reported from tropical and temperate environments. In broad terms, this statement is valid whether assessment is based on bedrock or regolith weathering estimates. Chemical weathering is found to be a substantial, agent of mass removal in periglacial environments. Assessment of the role of chemical processes in denudation is complicated by the differing, sometimes conflicting, definitions of the term. It is important to view chemical processes primarily as a component of geomorphic work, rather than as an important land-forming agent, in periglacial environments. Given the intrinsic attribute of long distance transport out of a drainage basin implicit to denudation, chemical solute loads in periglacial river systems must be ranked highly in comparison to the, often dramatic, but nearly always highly localized contribution from alpine mass wasting.