RAPID FORMATION OF ROCK-VARNISH AND OTHER ROCK COATINGS ON SLAG DEPOSITS NEAR FONTANA, CALIFORNIA

Manganiferous rock varnish, silica glaze and iron skins have formed on 20- to 40-year-old slag piles near Fontana, southern California. Rapid rock-varnish formation is associated with an unidentified cocci bacterium that grows rapidly in culturing experiments, combined with the likelihood that Mn-rich solutions flow over slag surfaces. A new model is proposed for the formation of silica glaze, involving soluble Al-Si complexes and the nature of wetting films. Iron skins occur where runoff is concentrated, and where iron bacteria grow. Observations indicate: (i) substrate can be important in supplying Mn, as well as maintaining a stable surface and channelling runoff to microspots where varnish grows; (ii) ignorance of boundary layer pH/Eh conditions makes chemical-physical models of varnish formation speculative; (iii) the balance between cementation of recently nucleated varnishes and erosional shear stresses is poorly understood, but is probably an important limiting factor on varnish growth rates; and (iv) there must be at least two steps in biotic varnishing-accretion of Mn-Fe in casts, followed by cementation of clays by either in situ cast residue or Mn-Fe remobilized from casts. Varnish accretion may be limited by the rate at which both steps occur. Rapid development of readily distinguishable manganiferous rock varnishes at this post-1952 site highlights the danger of speculation on the ages of landforms based solely on the appearance of rock-varnish coatings.