Laterite

Laterite is soil or rock enriched in iron and aluminum oxides through intense chemical weathering, typically in warm, humid climates. It can harden into a durable material when exposed to air.

Laterization: A weathering process that removes soluble minerals and concentrates iron and aluminum oxides in soil or rock. This process produces the enrichment that defines laterite.
Tropical soil: Soil formed under warm climates, where high temperatures and rainfall often accelerate weathering. Laterite commonly develops within deeply weathered tropical soil profiles.
Laterite stone: A building material cut from soft laterite that hardens after exposure to air. This use exploits the material’s ability to become more durable after quarrying.
Bauxite formation: The geological processes that produce aluminum-rich ore through weathering and concentration. It shares the strong-leaching conditions that generate some lateritic materials.
Laterite of Kerala: A widespread lateritic rock and soil developed across parts of the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala is a well-known setting where laterite has been quarried for construction.
Chemical weathering: The breakdown or alteration of rocks through reactions with water, gases, and dissolved substances. Laterization is an especially intense form of chemical weathering.
Soil horizon: A distinct layer in a soil profile, identified by its physical or chemical properties. Lateritic profiles often contain strongly contrasting layers of leached and oxide-rich material.
Lateritic nickel ore: Nickel-bearing material formed by intense weathering of ultramafic rocks in warm, wet regions. Some lateritic profiles concentrate nickel enough to support large-scale mining.
Regolith: The loose or altered material covering solid bedrock, including soil, sediment, and weathered rock. Laterite is one possible product within a deeply altered regolith.
Nickel laterite deposits of New Caledonia: Large nickel-bearing weathering profiles developed over ultramafic rocks in New Caledonia. These deposits demonstrate how lateritic weathering can concentrate nickel.

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