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BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING

Physical disintegration, dissolution and chemical alteration of rocks or minerals driven by biological processes. Important processes of biological or biotic weathering, or biogenicweathering, include enhanced chemical weathering by biologically derived acids. Biological weathering involves a potentially wide range of biological agents, such as tree roots to lichens, algae and fungi. The precise importance of biological weathering is not clear, however, as it is difficult to separate it from other types of weathering.

[See alsobiokarst, chelation]

Stefan H.DoerrSwansea University
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446247501.n425
10.4135/9781446247501.n425

ChenJ, BlumeHP and BeyerL (2000) Weathering of rocks induced by lichen colonisation: A review. Catena39: 121–146.
MatthewsJA and OwenG (2008) Endolithic lichens, rapid biological weathering and Schmidt-hammer R-values on recently exposed rock surfaces: Storbreen glacier foreland, Jotunheimen, Norway. Geografiska Annaler90A: 287–297.
MustoeGE (2010) Biogenic origin of coastal honeycomb weathering. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms35: 424–434.
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