Laterite soil is found in the northern part of Meghalaya, including the area around Cherrapunji:
Laterite soil
This soil is reddish to yellow in color and is made up of 90–100% iron, aluminum, titanium, and manganese oxides. The word laterite comes from a Latin word that means brick.
Meghalaya’s geography
Meghalaya is a state in the northeastern region of India. The state is made up of five geological formations, including gneisses, quartzites, phyllites, schists, conglomerates, lower Gondwana rocks, Sylhet traps, and Cretaceous tertiary sediments.
Cherrapunji
Cherrapunji is located in the southern part of the Khasi Hills, on a plateau that’s 660 meters above the surrounding valleys. The plateau’s soils are poor due to deforestation and heavy rainfall
Intense sub aerial weathering is the predominant cause of laterite formation and this process can also be
considered as the re-equilibrium of the mineral phases of a rock to the temperature, pressure, and other environmental
conditions present in the earth surface and in a directly underlying zone of variable thickness. As a result, laterites
are characteristics of past and present humid or arid tropical regions. Occurrences of latosols with associated meta-
bauxites were observed in parts of West Khasi Hills of Meghalaya Plateau and an attempt was made to classify them
on the basis of its physical, geochemical and mineralogical properties. These properties indicate that the Meghalaya
laterites were formed under conditions of high humidity with moderate to high temperature. On the basis of the
paleoclimatic conditions and prevailing in the area, it was also concluded that these laterites were formed during
Tertiary period accompanying the process of dehydration and desilicification.
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