Topic summary
Lateritic soil
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Laterite.
Definition and physical description
Laterite covers are thick in the stable areas of the Western Ethiopian Shield, on cratons of the South American Plate, and on the Australian Shield. In Madhya Pradesh, India, the laterite which caps the plateau is 30 m (100 ft) thick. Laterites can be either soft and easily broken into smaller pieces, or firm and physically resistant. Basement rocks are buried under the thick weathered layer and rarely exposed. Lateritic soils form the uppermost part of the laterite cover.