Salt weathering in deserts

Salts are locally important agents of rock weathering in deserts. Chemical and physical processes of rock weathering by salts are dependent on local environmental conditions, the properties of the rocks in which the salts are active, and the types, mixtures and occurrences of salts. Mechanisms of salt segregation and concentration are fundamental in determining the loci of salt weathering. Salt weathering has several geomorphological effects (including the generation of debris and the production of weathering features such as caverns), and it has serious implications for desert engineering. Recent attempts to define in the field the spatial variability of salt weathering hazards related to saline groundwater, and to simulate desert salt weathering processes in the laboratory, are briefly examined.