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Palaeogeographic Significance of Laterites

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Laterites of the Bengal Basin

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Geography ((BRIEFSGEOGRAPHY))

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Abstract

Many researchers have reliability on the laterites and weathered zones as palaeoclimatic indicators and as morpho-stratigraphic markers, because that ferruginous facies were the products or regolith of past weathering processes under suitable geo-climatic conditions which are not prevailing today. The residual laterite profiles of the Bengal Basin are the fossil type formed in past geological ages when climatic conditions were favourable for lateritization. These laterites were generally formed under an oxic atmosphere in the presence of abundant terrestrial biomass in an acidic environment, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, exceptional fossil wood preservation, and intense deep basal weathering of basalts, dolerite, gneiss, sandstones, and Neogene gravelly sediments of Bengal Basin . In this chapter, it is tried to unearth the palaeogenesis, palaeoclimatic implication, and tectono-geomorphic evolution of laterites in the shelf zone of Bengal Basin .

This chapter is reproduced in part from Ghosh and Guchhait (2019).

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Correspondence to Sandipan Ghosh .

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Ghosh, S., Guchhait, S.K. (2020). Palaeogeographic Significance of Laterites. In: Laterites of the Bengal Basin. SpringerBriefs in Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22937-5_8

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