Spatial variations of soil weathering processes in a tropical mountain environment : The Baturité massif and its piedmont (Ceará, NE Brazil)

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
With combined field surveys and laboratory analyses, involving micromorphological observations as well as geochemical and mineralogical investigations, this study demonstrates a close spatial correlation between soil weathering processes and present-day water balance (WBI) variations in the uplands and piedmont zones of the Baturité massif. Given that soils and weathering mantles are integrators of “average” bioclimatic conditions that prevail at timescales of 1 to 10 Myr, the distribution of soil weathering signatures in the study area is probably reflective of inevitable, long-term (Quaternary to Neogene) climatic fluctuations around median values close to the present ones. Paleoclimatic legacies inherited from the Paleogene lateritization event are rare, because of the denudation pulse occurring in the Late Tertiary and favoring soil stripping to the paleoweathering front on the erosional piedmont.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Catena (Giessen), issn : 0341-8162, 2012, vol. 93, p. 18-28, nombre de pages : 11, Références bibliographiques : 39 ref.

Date :
2012

Editeur :
Pays édition : Allemagne, Cremlingen-Destedt, Catena