Fate of silicate minerals in a peat bog

An investigation of silicate weathering in a Minnesota mire indicates that quartz and aluminosilicates rapidly dissolve in anoxic, organic-rich, neutral-pH environments. The increasing silica concentrations at circum-neutral pH are consistent with a system where silicate solubility is influenced by silica-organic-acid complexes. Silica-organic-acid complexes therefore may be the cause of the almost complete absence of diatoms in decomposed peat and contribute to the formation of silica-depleted underclays commonly found beneath coal. -from Authors