Advantages of water in chemical weathering

Water is an essential factor of chemical weathering  and when it contains dissolved salts and acids it is all the more effective. It enhances the degradation, alteration, and re-synthesis of minerals by causing a wide variety of chemical reactions like hydrolysis, hydration, and dissolution etc. For example, the mineral anhydrite (CaSO₄) on hydration, chemically changes to gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O). Gypsum is used in the construction industry.  Another example showing the action of water on microcline (KAlSi₃O₈),  a potassium-containing feldspar, is given below: