Age and origin of laterite and silcrete duricrusts and their relationship to episodic tectonism in the mid‐north of South Australia∗

Abstract

Differential earth movements occurred during Eocene, Miocene, and late Caino‐zoic times. The faulting formed basins of sedimentation, led to dissection of land‐surfaces in some localities and burial in others, and faulted the Cainozoic sediments. Laterite and silcrete cap remnants of relict landsurfaces of two different ages. Laterite formed before the Eocene; it was faulted and dissected during the Eocene in the north but continued to develop until the Miocene in the south. Silcrete formed from Eocene to Miocene times; its dissection was promoted by late Cainozoic tectonism. Since laterite and silcrete formed on the same strata in warm, very moist environments, lithology and climate are not important genetic factors causing laterite to form at one time and silcrete at another. Only base levels of erosion differed. The silcrete surface was largely developed by streams flowing into mid‐Cainozoic lacustrine basins, whereas there is no evidence that these drainage conditions prevailed for laterite formation.