Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In the seasonally wet tropics, the mobilisation of silica and bases and the repre-
cipitation of iron or aluminium results in the formation of various forms of laterite
profile. Apart from indicating an efficient leaching regime, laterite soils and crusts
have little paleoclimatic value. Silcretes formed as a result of near-surface precipit-
ation of dissolved silica appear to form most extensively in areas that are less arid
than those where calcretes occur but are more arid than areas where laterites occur.
Overall, desert soils, paleosols and duricrusts do not, in general, provide much in the
way of precise paleoclimatic data.
