Scale issues in weathering studies

A review of the major scale issues in weathering studies reveals concerns over the fundamental spatio-temporal distributions of weathering phenomena, as well as issues of upscaling microscope-based observations, and linking different scales of observations in explanations of landform development. Various strategies are proposed which can be used to tackle these issues, many rooted in non-linear dynamical systems ideas. As an initial step, spatio-temporal scale distributions are estimated here for weathering processes, landforms and controls based on a range of empirical data. Two case studies, of phytokarst in Grand Cayman and blistering and scaling of building stones, are presented to illustrate the types of data that might be used to establish more convincing scale linkages in weathering investigations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.