[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Whats the truth about laterite?
Hi,
I am a student at Utah State, and I was reading the earlier exchanges
here on the definition of laterite and its origin. I asked my Science
professor who told me that the only place in the United States where
true laterite has been discovered is Hawaii. I then asked Robert Hudson
from this list to email me the information that he had, and he sent me
the following quote from Geology of Soils: Their Evolution,
Classification, and Uses by Charles B. Hunt published by W. H. Freeman
and Company, 1972. I then found the same book in my school library.
"The term "Lateritic Soil" has sometimes been used with reference to
the ancient residual deposits on the Piedmont Province of eastern
United States. Only in a broad sense, however, are these soils related
to true
Lateritic Soils. Although depleted in Alkalis, Alkaline earths, and
silica and enriched in iron, aluminum, and clay, they contain no true
laterite (Pendleton, 1936, and Sharasuvana, 1946). Most of the iron is
in the form of oxides and most of the aluminum in the form of silicate
clay minerals. The modern red and yellow soils developed on these
residual deposits are sometimes refered to as latosols, in reference to
their similarity to the Lateritic Soils."
It goes on to say that true laterite is found in Hawaii, West Indies,
Australia, Queensland, India, and
China. Not the USA or Canada. It seems obvious to me that what people
are reffering to as laterite in the USA is not laterite at all, but
clay. So what is Substrate Gold, clay or laterite? Where does it come
from? Why arent people concerned about this?
Samuel Johansen
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com