Some observations on laterites developed on deccan trap: Implications for post-deccan trap denudational history

摘要

Earlier workers have classified the lateritized surfaces into two groups - one showing a conformable relationship and the other an unconformable relationship to the Deccan trap. The first surface occurs at elevations varying between 1200 to about 1500 m asl in the Sahyadri range on the youngest Deccan Trap flows, while the second is found at elevations varying from 10-200 m asl in the narrow coastal plain to the west of the Sahyadris on lower (older) Deccan Trap flows. Our observations of laterites in Pune, Raigarh and Satara and Sangli districts of Maharashtra within the Deccan Trap region however, show that the geomorphology of laterites in relation to the Deccan Trap is more varied than indicated in the model by Widdowson. Two major denudational surfaces on the Deccan Trap, at 600 m asl and 850 m asl have preserved remnants of a laterite cover which have implications for the denudational history of the Deccan Traps.