Encrypted Volume on partition x and Later Deletion?

During the installation process (of Debian Etch 4.0r3 amd64), one is given the option of creating encrypted volumes. If I created a 4th partition on the disk and set it to be an encrypted volume, after installation can I delete (ie remove) that partition? When the partition is being created (during installation), there is a statement that is displayed that states (and I paraphrase) that no further changes can be made to the partition after configuration of the encrypted volume is completed. I'm assuming after installation you can delete the partition with the encrypted volume if desired without adversely effecting any of the other partitions on the disk (say using fdisk). Is this the case? I can imagine hardware that might prevent such deletion, but it's hard to imagine it being put into practice.

I'm also assuming the encryption impacts only the partition to which it is applied.