Laterite
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Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminum that often forms in hot, wet areas; most such soil is found in the tropics. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration due to high iron oxide co
Traditional laterite temple in Kerala
Monument of laterite brickstones at Angadipuram, Kerala, India, which commemorates where laterite was first described and discussed by Buchanan-Hamilton in 1807
Laterite in Sơn Tây, Hanoi, Vietnam
Soil layers, from soil down to bedrock: A represents soil; B represents laterite, a regolith; C represents saprolite, a less-weathered regolith; below C is bedrock
Saprolite
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Saprolite is a chemically weathered rock. Saprolites form in the lower zones of soil profiles and represent deep weathering of the bedrock surface. In most outcrops, its color comes from ferric compou
Laterite
…the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. The initial products of weathering are essentially kaolinized rocks called saprolites. A period of active laterization extended from about the mid-Tertiary to the mid-Quaternary periods (35 to 1.5 million years ago). Statistical analyses…
Saprolite at Arranmore (Ireland). Transition from tectonized quartzite through saprolite to laterite. The weathered section is covered by glacial drift with scattered erratics, Holocene sandy soil and thin bog.