Abstract
In the forest of Enkheim near the city of Frankfurt, the depositional sequence of a river Main floodplain sediment was analyzed with regard to the elemental composition of its sediment-facies using XRD- and XRF-techniques. The study includes: residual minerals (mainly Zr and Ti species, which are extremely resistant to weathering), detrital minerals (quartz, K-feldspars, plagioclases), secondary minerals (mainly clay minerals such as Illitehydrous mica, kaolinite, vermiculite, chlorite, smectite and mixed-layer clays) and precipitated minerals (mainly calcite). The processes of weathering are defined in terms of buffer ranges (pH-Eh stability fields). The impact of the “acid weathering front” on the upper part of the sedimentary sequence was established by the analyses of the mechanisms of dissolution, transport and sorption of selected constituents (major cations; heavy metals) of which their eco-availability is of importance when measures of environmental protection have to be taken.
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