Scale issues in weathering studies

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