Relict Deep Weathering and Duricrusting in Relation to the Palaeoenvironments of Middle Latitudes

Relict deep-weathering profiles and duricrusts occur throughout a considerable range of middle latitudes. Chemically, they can probably occupy any position in the fersiallitic range. Palaeoclimatic, palaeobotanical, and palaeogeomorphic evidence indicates that they originated by weathering in condit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Geographical journal 1971-01, Vol.137 (4), p.511-522
Main Author: Dury, G. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Basalt
Bauxite
Climate models
Geology
Geomorphology
Humidity
Laterites
Paleoclimatology
Publishing industry
Weathering processes
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Summary:Relict deep-weathering profiles and duricrusts occur throughout a considerable range of middle latitudes. Chemically, they can probably occupy any position in the fersiallitic range. Palaeoclimatic, palaeobotanical, and palaeogeomorphic evidence indicates that they originated by weathering in conditions that would today be classed as humid-tropical. While such conditions can be reconstructed for middle latitudes for large parts of the Cretaceous, the relict crusts and profiles now exposed at the surface, or buried beneath or in dated basalts, seem to relate mainly to parts of Tertiary time, wherein peak warmth (and on some of the evidence, peak humidity) was recorded during the Eocene, with a subsequent warm-humid peak in the middle Miocene. Among relict ferricrusts are those of southwest Wisconsin. Relict silcrusts may include the sarsens of the Marlborough Downs.
ISSN:0016-7398
1475-4959
DOI:10.2307/1797147