The Concept Of Laterite

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

Volumn 62, Issue 1, 1972, Pages 42-56

  Paton, T R ^a   Williams, M A J ^b  

^a Senior Lecturer ^*  (United States)

^b MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84956787095     PISSN: 00045608     EISSN: 14678306     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1972.tb00842.x     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. R. L. Pendleton, “On the Use of the Term Laterite,” American Soil Science Association Bulletin, No. 17 (1936), pp. 102-08; J. A. Prescott, “The Early History of the Use of the Term Laterite,” Journal of Soil Science, Vol. 5 (1954), pp. 1-6;
2. J. A. Prescott and R. L. Pendleton, Laterite and Lateritic Soils, Commonwealth Bureau of Soil Science Technical Communication, No. 47 (Farnham Royal, England: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, 1952), pp. 1-51; S. Sivarajasingham, et al., “Laterite,” Advances in Agronomy, Vol. 14 (1962), pp. 1-60; and R. Maignien, Review of Research on Laterites, Natural Resources Research, No. 4 (Paris: UNESCO, 1966), pp. 11-148.
3. F. D. Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (New York: Dover Publications, 1954), pp. 1-506.
4. Buchanan, op. cit., footnote 2, p. 369.
5. Buchanan, op. cit., footnote 2, p. 460.
6. H. W. Voysey, “Report on the Geology of Hyderabad,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 2 (1833), pp. 298-305, 392-405; idem, “Extracts from the late Dr. Voysey's Journals when attached to the Trigonometrical Survey in South and Central India,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 13 (1844), pp. 853-62; and Vol. 19 (1850), pp. 190-212, 269-302.
7. A. Stirling, “An Account, Geographical, Statistical and Historical of Orissa Proper, or Cuttack,” Asiatic Researches, Vol. 12 (1825), p. 163.
8. Stirling, op. cit., footnote 8, p. 163.
9. P. M. Benza, “Geological Sketch of the Neil-gherries,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 4 (1835), pp. 413-33; and J. G. Malcolmson, “On the Fossils of the Eastern Portion of the Great Basaltic District of India,” Transactions of the Geological Society of London, Second Series, Vol. 5 (1837), pp. 537-73.
10. T. J. Newbold in a series of papers in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, covering his traverses across India: “Bellary to Bijapore,” Vol. 11 (1842), p. 929; “Masulipatam to Goa,” Vol. 13 (1844), p. 987.
11. T. J. Newbold, “Summary of the Geology of Southern India,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 8 (1844), pp. 138-71, 213-70.
12. D. N. Wadia, The Geology of India, second edition (London: Macmillan, 1953), chapter twenty-three. “Newbold, op. cit., footnote 12, p. 237.
13. J. R. Logan, “On the Local and Relative Geology of Singapore including Notices of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula etc.,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 16 (1847), pp. 521-679; idem, “Notices of the Geology of the Straits of Singapore,” Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 7 (1851), p. 710; and H. F. Alexander, “On the Origin of Cabook, or the Laterite of Ceylon,” Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society, Vol. 2 (1871), p. 113.
14. Newbold, op. cit., footnote 12, p. 238.
15. J. Hays, “Land Surfaces and Laterites in the North of the Northern Territory,” in J. N. Jennings and J. A. Mabbutt, eds., Landform Studies from Australia and New Guinea (Canberra, Australia: A.N.U. Press, 1967), p. 203; and M. A. J. Williams, “Geology of the Adelaide-Alligator Area,” in R. Story, et al., Lands of the Adelaide-Alligator Area, Northern Territory, Land Research Series No. 25 (Melbourne: C.S.I.R.O., Australia, 1969), pp. 64-66.
16. Newbold, op. cit., footnote 12, p. 231.
17. H. B. Medlicott and W. T. Blandford, A Manual of the Geology of India (Calcutta: Government Press, 1869), Vol. I, pp. 348-70.
18. A. G. Bain, “Geology of Southern Africa,” Transactions of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 7 (1852), pp. 175-92; Logan (1847), op. cit., footnote 15; and Alexander, op. cit., footnote 15.
19. T. Oldham, “Notes upon the Geology of the Rajmahal Hills,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 23 (1854), p. 263.
20. W. G. Woolnough, Presidential Address, “Part 1, The Chemical Criteria of Peneplanation; Part 2, The Duricrust of Australia,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. 61 (1927), pp. 1-53.
21. Medlicott and Blandford, op. cit., footnote 19, p. 348.
22. R. Bruce-Foote, “Geology of Madras and North Arcot District,” Memoir of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. 10 (1862); idem, “Geology of South Mahratta,” ibid., Vol. 12 (1876).
23. Medlicott and Blandford, op. cit., footnote 19, second edition edited by T. Oldham (1892); and Wadia, op. cit., footnote 13.
24. F. F. von Richthofen, Führer für Forschungsreisende (1886), pp. 455-59.
25. Von Richthofen, op. cit., footnote 26, p. 455.
26. J. Walther, “Bericht über die Resultate einer Reise nach Ostindien im Winter 1888/89,” Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde, Vol. 16 (1889), pp. 318-28.
27. J. S. Joffe discusses the work of V. V. Dokuchaev, N. M. Sibirtzev, and K. D. Glinka, in chapter two of the second edition of Pedology (New Brunswick: Pedology Publications, 1949).
28. The notion that laterite is diagnostic of a particular climate occurs in the careful reviews of H. B. S. Cooke, “Observations Relating to Quaternary Environments in East and Southern Africa,” Bulletin of the Geological Society of South Africa, Annexure to Vol. 60 (1958), pp. 1-73; and R. F. Flint, “Pleistocene Climates in Eastern and Southern Africa,” Geological Society of America Bulletin, Vol. 70 (1959), pp. 343-74.
29. M. Bauer, “Beiträge zur Geologie der Seyschellen insbesondere zur Kenntnis des Laterits,” Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Vol. 2 (1898), pp. 163-219.
30. F. J. Martin and H. C. Doyne, Soil Survey of Sierra Leone (Freetown, Sierra Leone: Department of Agriculture, 1932) affords an example of the pitfalls of relying on one criterion (the silica/alumina ratio) for defining laterite.
31. Martin and Doyne, op. cit., footnote 34; idem, “I. Laterite and Lateritic Soils in Sierra Leone,” Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 17 (1927), pp. 530-47; and idem, “II. Laterite and Lateritic Soils in Sierra Leone,” Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 20 (1930), pp. 135-43.
32. H. Worth, “Weathered Dolente of Rowley Regis (South Staffordshire) compared with the laterite of the Western Ghats near Bombay,” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 2 (1905), p. 21.
33. T. H. Holland, “On the Constitution, Origin and Dehydration of Laterite,” Geological Magazine, Decade 4, Vol. 10 (1903), p. 59; and H. and F. J. Worth, “The Composition of Indian Laterites,” Geological Magazine, Decade 4, Vol. 10 (1903), p. 154.
34. L. L. Fermor, “What is Laterite?” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 8 (1911), pp. 454-62, 507-16, and 559-66.
35. Martin and Doyne (1927 and 1930), op. cit., footnote 35.
36. Martin and Doyne, op. cit., footnote 34.
37. Goldsehmidt, op. cit., footnote 32, and Crompton, op. cit., footnote 32.
38. J. B. Scrivenor discussed the use of the word laterite in a series of letters in the Geological Magazine, Vol. 6 (1909), pp. 431 and 574; Vol. 7 (1910), pp. 139 and 335; and in chapter nine of The Geology of Malaya (London, 1931).
39. J. B. Harrison, “The Residual Earths of British Guiana commonly termed 'Laterite',” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 7 (1910), pp. 439-52; idem, The Katamorphism of Igneous Rocks under Humid Tropical Conditions, edited by F. Hardy (Harpenden, England: Imperial Bureau of Soil Science, 1933), pp. 1-79.
40. G. Milne, A Report an a Journey to Parts of the West Indies and the United States for the Study of Soils, East Africa Agricultural Research Station, Amani (Dar-es-Salaam :Government Printer, 1938).
41. Harrison, op. cit., footnote 43, p. 10.
42. Scrivenor, op. cit., footnote 42.
43. T. Crook replying to Scrivenor in the Geological Magazine, Vol. 6 (1909), p. 525; and Vol. 7 (1910), p. 233; and J. W. Evans replying to Scrivenor, Geological Magazine, Vol. 7 (1910), pp. 189 and 381.
44. C. S. Fox, “Buchanan's Laterite of Malabar and Kanara,” Records of the Geological Survey of India, No. 69 (1936), pp. 389-422.
45. Fox, op. cit., footnote 48. After examining the type area for laterite at Malabar, Fox visited the Seychelles to collect samples of the material Bauer had described as laterite. See Bauer, op. cit., footnote 33.
46. Milne, op. cit., footnote 44, p. 62.
47. Goldschmidt, op. cit., footnote 32, p. 23.
48. G. W. Robinson, Soils: Their Origin, Constitution and Classification (London: Murbv, 1932), pp. 1573.
49. Crompton, op. cit., footnote 32.
50. L. C. King, Morphology of the Earth (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1962), pp. 1-699; J. A. Mabbutt, “The Weathered Land Surface in Central Australia,” Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Vol. 9, pp. 82-114; and Hays, op. cit., footnote 17.
51. Woolnough, op. cit., footnote 22.
52. M. Maclaren, “On the Origin of Certain Laterites,” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 4 (1906), pp. 536-47.
53. F. P. Mennell, “Notes on Rhodesian Laterite,” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 6 (1909), pp. 350-52; H. Arsandaux, “Contribution à l'étude du latérite,” Comptes Rendus de l'Académie de Science de Paris, Vol. 149 (1909), pp. 682-85, 1082-84; and A. Lacroix, “Les Latérites de la Guinée et les Produits d'altérations qui leurs sont associés,” Nouvelles Archives du Museum, 51' Serie, Vol. 5 (1914), pp. 255-355.
54. H. Scaëtta, “Observations sur l'origine et la constitution des sols de l'Afrique Occidentale Française,” Annales Agronomiques, Vol. 19 (1940), pp. 101-26; R. Maignien Le Cuirassement des Sols en Guinée, Afrique Occidentale (Strasbourg: Mémoires du Service de la Carte Géologique d'Alsace et de Lorraine, No. 16, 1958), pp. 1-239.
55. E. S. Simpson, “Notes on Laterite in Western Australia,” Geological Magazine, Decade 5, Vol. 9 (1912), pp. 399-406.
56. H. I. Jensen, et al., “Geological Report on the Country between Pine Creek and Tanami. Reconnaissance of Arnhem Land. Observations on Country between Pine Creek and Newcastle Waters,” Bulletin of the Northern Territory of Australia, No. 14 (1915), p. 15.
57. Woolnough, op. cit., footnote 22, p. 17.
58. Newbold (1842), op. cit., footnote 11.
59. F. W. Whitehouse, “Studies in the Late Geological History of Queensland,” University of Queensland Occasional Papers in Geology, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1940), pp. 2-22.
60. Hays, op. cit., footnote 17; Williams, op. cit., footnote 17.
61. C. G. Stephens, “Laterite and Silcrete in Australia: A Study of the Genetic Relationships of Laterite and Silcrete and their companion Materials, and their collective Significance in the Formation of the Weathered Mantle, Soils, Relief and Drainage of the Australian Continent,” Geoderma, Vol. 5 (1971), pp. 5-52.
62. T. Langford-Smith and G. H. Dury, “Distribution, Character, and Attitude of the Duricrust in the Northwest of New South Wales and the Adjacent Areas of Queensland,” American Journal of Science, Vol. 263 (1965), pp. 170-90.
63. M. J. Mulcahy, “Laterite Residuals and Sand-plains,” Australian Journal of Science, Vol. 27 (1964), pp. 54-55; idem, “Landscapes, Laterites and Soils in Southwestern Australia,” in Jennings and Mabbutt, op. cit., footnote 17, pp. 211-30.
64. G. H. Dury and T. Langford-Smith, “The Use of the Term Peneplain in Descriptions of Australian Landscapes,” Australian Journal of Science, Vol. 27 (1964), pp. 171-75.
65. M. J. McFarlane, “Lateritization and landscape development in Kyagwe, Uganda,” Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 126 (1971), p. 508.
66. J. M. Campbell, “The Origin of Latérite,” Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. 19 (1910), pp. 432-57; and idem, “Laterite, its Origin, Structure and Minerals,” Mineralogical Magazine, Vol. 17 (1917), pp. 67-77, 120-28, 171-79, and 220-29.
67. B. A. Keen, “Soil Physics: Its Scope in Agriculture,” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (1942), pp. 546-57
68. Goldschmidt, op. cit., footnote 32; Crompton, op. cit., footnote 32.
69. C. F. Marbut, “Morphology of Laterites,” Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Soil Science, Vol. 5 (1930), pp. 72-80. See also the fuller joint account by C. F. Marbut and C. B. Manifold, “The Soils of the Amazon Basin in relation vo Agricultural Possibilities,” Geographical Review, Vol. 16 (1926), pp. 414-42.
70. E. C. J. Möhr, The Soih of Equatorial Regions with special reference to the Netherlands East Indies, translated by R. L. Pendleton (Michigan: Ann Arbor Press, 1944), pp. 1-765. Mohr's hypothesis is summarized in chapter ten of E. C. J. Möhr and F. A. Van Baren, Tropical Soils: A Critical Study of Soil Genesis as related to Climate, Rock and Vegetation (New York: Interscience, 1954), pp. 300-26.
71. J. B. Scrivenor's review of C. S. Fox's book on Bauxite and Aluminous Laterite appeared in the Geological Magazine for 1933, and finally spurred Fox to sample Buchanan's type laterite (q.v., footnote 48).
72. C. E. Kellogg, “Tropical Soils,” Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Soil Science, Vol. 1 (1950), p. 266.
73. H. Erhart criticized H. Scaëtta's paleoclimatic inferences about laterite on the grounds that the genesis of laterite was still obscure. See H. Erhart, “Les latérites du Moyen-Nïger et leur signification paléoclimatique,” Comptes Rendus de l'Académie de Science de Paris, Vol. 217 (1943), pp. 323-25; and H. Scaëtta, “Sur un phénomène d'expurgation allitique du sol tropical en Afrique occidentale,” ibid., Vol. 208 (1939), pp. 912-14.
74. L. T. Alexander and J. G. Cady, Genesis and Hardening of Laterite in Soils, Technical Bulletin No. 1282 (Washington: U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1962).
75. Medlicott and Blandford, op. cit., footnote 19.
76. Lacroix, op. cit., footnote 57.
77. J. d'Hoore, “L'accumulation des sesquioxydes libres dans les sols tropicaux,” Publication de l'Institut National d'Études Agronomiques du Congo Belge, Série Scientifique, No. 62 (1954).
78. d'Hoore, op. cit., footnote 84.
79. Medlicott and Blandford, op. cit., footnote 19.
80. Harrassowitz, op. cit., footnote 71; and Newbold, op. cit., footnote 11.
81. Kellogg, op. cit., footnote 79.
82. Waither, op. cit., footnote 28; and von Richthofen, op. cit., footnote 26.
83. Soil Conservation Service, S oil Classification, A Comprehensive System: Seventh Approximation (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 238.
84. Soil Conservation Service, op. cit., footnote 90.
85. Hays, op. cit., footnote 17.
86. Cooke, op. cit., footnote 31; and Flint, op. cit., footnote 31.