Granite Disintegration, Panola Mountain, Georgia

Abstract

Biotite-induced disintegration of granite fragments in the soils of plant communities on the slopes of Panola Mountain proceeds rapidly during the early stages of plant succession. Complete disintegration of some fragments may take over 670 years. The grain size of the minerals in the plant community soils is strongly influenced by the size distributions of the minerals in the parent rock, taking into account fracturing of polycrystalline quartz into monocrystalline grains. The grain size distribution of these monocrystalline quartz grains is bimodal in the Panola granite and in the plant community soils during the later stages of plant succession.