This is the 2D companion to the 3D top-down lichen-weathering sim: instead of an overhead instanced grid, it renders a stratigraphic side-view cross-section — a vertical slice through the rock, the way a geologist would actually look at bioweathering in the field. Mineral grains become a row of columns; lichen colonies become expanding canopy bands seen edge-on. The dissolution kinetics are the identical Arrhenius-controlled chelation model, integrated independently for this 1D line of grains rather than a 2D grid:
dD/dt = k₀ · S · f(age) · exp[ −Ea/R · (1/T − 1/T_ref) ]
D etch-pit depth (µm)
k₀ base dissolution-rate constant
S acid secretion control (relative units)
f(age) thallus maturity, 0→1 as the colony establishes
Ea activation energy ≈ 50 kJ/mol (oxalic-acid/feldspar)
R gas constant, 8.314 J/(mol·K)
T surface temperature (K), T_ref = 298.15 K
Colonies still expand radially at a constant lichenometric rate — here that radius is measured along the cross-section line, so a colony's footprint is the set of grains within v_growth·t of its seed point:
r(t) = min( r_max, v_growth · t )
The small inset plot in the corner of the canvas draws k(T) itself, normalised against k(40 °C), with a marker at the current temperature — a rate-law diagram that has no counterpart in the 3D scene, added because a cross-section is exactly where you'd want to read off the kinetics directly.
- Organic acid secretion — scales the chelation rate S; higher values pit the rock faster.
- Surface temperature — enters the Arrhenius factor; warmer surfaces weather faster, colder ones far slower.
- Thallus growth rate — sets v_growth, how quickly each colony's canopy widens along the profile.
- Time acceleration — simulated years advanced per real second, so multi-century weathering is visible in minutes.
- + New Colony — seeds an additional lichen thallus at a random point along the profile.