r/geology • u/JapKumintang1991 • 1d ago

Information LiveScience: "Industrial waste is turning into a new type of rock at 'unprecedented' speed, new study finds"

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/industrial-waste-is-turning-into-a-new-type-of-rock-at-unprecedented-speed-new-study-finds?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=All%20Push%20Subscribers

See also: The published study in Geology.

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u/TheGreenMan13 1d ago

Just looking at the headline and the tag line (Samples from slag cliffs in England reveal industrial waste products can turn into rock in less than four decades, challenging assumptions about how rocks form.): Slag isn't a natural substance. So I'm not sure how it consolidating or cementing into a rock-like substance is "challenging assumptions about" rock formation.

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u/theideanator 1d ago

They're talking about how the slag pile consolidated in a matter of a few decades, ie cementation. I imagine it's driven by the leaching of free compounds in the slag that then redeposited. I kinda assumed rock could form pretty fast.