You place a granite monument in the cemetery to honor one of your ancestors. If your great-great-great-great-…-great grandchildren were to come back and look at the base of the monument, where it is buried in the soil, they likely would find:

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Hydrolysis and oxidation convert unstable minerals in granite into clay minerals and iron oxides (rust), while the soluble ions released are mobile and get leached away to rivers and ultimately the ocean.

1) Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Granite is composed mainly of quartz, feldspar, and dark (ferromagnesian) minerals.  
- Chemical weathering processes: hydrolysis (feldspar → clay + dissolved cations), oxidation (Fe-bearing minerals → iron oxides, “rust”), and dissolution (release of soluble ions like Na+, K+, Ca2+, HCO3−).  
- Mobility: clay minerals and iron oxides are relatively insoluble and tend to remain in soils as fine residues; soluble ions are transported by groundwater and runoff to streams and oceans.

2) Step-by-step reasoning
- Feldspars react with acidic water (hydrolysis) to form clay minerals (e.g., kaolinite) plus dissolved ions (e.g., K+, Na+, Ca2+).  
- Ferromagnesian minerals oxidize to form iron oxides/hydroxides that coat grains and remain in the soil.  
- Quartz is chemically resistant and may persist as sand-sized particles, but the dominant new soil constituents from chemical weathering are clays and iron oxides.  
- Rain and groundwater carry away the dissolved ions into drainage systems and eventually the ocean, so those soluble products do not accumulate in place.

3) Calculations
- No numerical calculation is required; the argument is qualitative and based on known reaction pathways and solubilities.

4) Why the correct answer is correct
- It correctly states the expected residual products (clays and rust) that “hang around” in the soil and the fate of soluble ions (washed away). This matches observed soil profiles developed from granite parent material.

5) Why other options are incorrect
- Option 1 (quartz washed away) is wrong: quartz is resistant and tends to remain, not preferentially wash to the ocean.  
- Option 2 (clays dissolved and washed away) is wrong: clays are insoluble and accumulate in soils rather than dissolve.  
- Option 4 (soluble ions remain while clays/rust wash away) reverses the actual mobility behavior.  
- Option 5 (no changes) is wrong: chemical weathering alters granite over time.

6) Conclusion
The correct outcome is that clays and rust are produced and remain in the soil while soluble ions are dissolved and carried to the ocean, which matches the provided answer.

You place a granite monument in the cemetery to honor one of your ancestors. If your great-great-great-great-…-great grandchildren were to come back and look at the base of the monument, where it is buried in the soil, they likely would find: Single choice

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