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Chemical Weathering
Occurs because minerals are out of equilibrium with their chemical environment.
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In general, minerals with strong convalent bonds are less subject to chemical weathering.
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In particular mineral groups, like the silicates,relative mineral stability during chemical
weathering can be predicted by calculating total silicon-oxygen bond strength.
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The stability of minerals which dissolve directly into watery solutions is dependent
on the solubility of the mineral, which can be calculated from thermodynamic principles.
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