the.com/laterite
Soil that rusted itself into rock, iron-rich and stubbornly permanent.
means A reddish, iron- and aluminium-rich soil/rock formed by intense weathering in hot, wet tropical climates, which hardens irreversibly when exposed to air.
from Coined in the early 1800s by a British geologist studying iron-rich clays in India, from Latin 'later' meaning 'brick' — because the soft, quarried stuff was cut into blocks that hardened in the sun and were literally used as bricks for building.
- formation
- tropical weathering leaches everything but iron and aluminum
- color clue
- red or orange from iron oxide saturation
- ancient use
- ankor wat partly built from cut laterite blocks
- odd trait
- hardens irreversibly once exposed to air