The minerals in the clay fractions of a black cotton soil and a red earth from Hyderabad, Deccan State, India

Abstract

The mineral compositions of the clays from a red earth and a black cotton soil from Hyderabad, Deccan State, India, occurring in close proximity in the field are determined. Both soils are derived from the same or from very similar parent rocks, a coarsely crystalline granite or gneiss.For both soils there is practically no variation in the mineralogical composition of the clay throughout the profile, but for any given clay there is some variation with grain size. The main contrast between the two is that the red clay contains predominantly kaolinite or halloysite, whereas the black clay contains mainly beidellite, a member of the montmorillonite group. The topography appears to be the principal factor associated with this difference in minerals, and the processes of weathering believed to have produced the contrasted clays are discussed with reference to experiments on the leaching of felspar in the laboratory and on hydrothermal synthesis.