Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.


Eric Stevens wrote:
> On 5 Jan 2006 01:46:45 -0800, "Daryl Krupa" <icycalmca@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> --- snip ---
>
> > If acid rain artificially weathered Maine tombstones,
> >increasing the amount of weathering, then maybe
> >its principal constituents (sulphuric acid and nitric acid)
> >artificially weathered the KRS.
>
> The tombstones were beside a railway and hence subject to probably
> more than 150 years of exposure to not just dissolved atmospheric CO2
> but also H2SO3/H2SO4 from the combustion of locomotive fuels. On this
> basis their rate of weathering could be expected to have been
> accelerated.
>
> Apart from that, I am doubtful that anyone would argue that the
> downward facing face of a buried slab (e.g. KRS) would be exposed to
> rain water unmodified by the soil chemistry surrounding them. I have
> no direct knowledge of the pH of the soil in which the KRS was found
> but I would expect it to be mildly alkaline.

You wanted a suggestion as to how the KRS
might have been intentionally weathered.
You provided one yourself, by mentioning acid rain.
Those acids, if they had an effect on Maine tombstones that
artificially accelerated their weathering, might have had
the same effect on the KRS,
had they been applied to it.
Being face-up or face-down doesn't enter into it.

To show that his Maine tombstone weathering observations
are applicable to the KRS, Wolter has to investigate the effects of
the environmental conditions experienced by the Maine tombstones
when those conditions are applied to the KRS.
Once that investigation is done, then one may directly compare
the weathering observations.
Yes, accelerated weathering of Maine tombstones may have biased
age-estimates of weathering towards an appearance of extra age, which
would mean that if the KRS looked as old as a 200-year-old Maine
tombstone, and the KRS had not experienced the acid rain experienced by
the Maine tombstone, then the KRS would seem to be older than a
200-year-old Maine tombstone, because the Tombstone was not as old as
it looked, which means that the KRS would seem to be less likely to be
younger than the 200-year-old Maine tombstone.
But that comparison brings non-natural weathering into the argument,
which raises questions about the reliability of the Maine tombstone
record
as a comparison to the KRS record, because that comparison is based on
the unspoken assumption that only natural weathering took place on both

the Maine tombstones and the KRS.
And it further raises the possibility that the KRS might also have
experienced non-natural weathering.
If anthropogenic acids have been responsible for at least some of
the weathering of the Maine tombstones, and have been responsible for
their appearance of great age, then perhaps those acids are also
responsible for the appearance of great age of some of the surfaces
of the KRS.

There are a few obvious tests:
do a regression analysis of extent of weathering of Maine tombstones
vs. age;
find other graywacke boulders in Minnesota and examine the extent of
weathering on their variously-aged surfaces.
Not done, as far as I know.

> The conclusion is that, being buried, while the KRS would have been
> damp for a higher proportion of the time, but the tombstones would
> have been in a markedly more aggressive environment.

Burial is a whole other complication: its duration and timing is
unknown.
Let's stick to what the Maine tombstones tell us about sub-aerial
weathering.

-
Daryl Krupa

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.
    ... >>> If acid rain artificially weathered Maine tombstones, ... >>>its principal constituents (sulphuric acid and nitric acid) ... >>>artificially weathered the KRS. ... >> basis their rate of weathering could be expected to have been ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.
    ... >>> You wanted a suggestion as to how the KRS ... by mentioning acid rain. ... >> and in less time than the lesser weathering on the tombstones. ... >>>the environmental conditions experienced by the Maine tombstones ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.
    ... >> You wanted a suggestion as to how the KRS ... > and in less time than the lesser weathering on the tombstones. ... the same acids ... that presumably had an ageing-effect on the Maine tombstones ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.
    ... >>> You wanted a suggestion as to how the KRS ... by mentioning acid rain. ... You are suggesting that forgers of the KRS ... >> and in less time than the lesser weathering on the tombstones. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Kensington Runestone - Nielsen and Wolters.
    ... >>> The tombstones were beside a railway and hence subject to probably ... >>> basis their rate of weathering could be expected to have been ... >>> downward facing face of a buried slab (e.g. KRS) would be exposed to ... >>the environmental conditions experienced by the Maine tombstones ...
    (sci.archaeology)
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