Mobilization, migration, and concentration of ions

Soil-formation processes of selective concentration of oxides of iron and aluminum, and in some circumstances of silica, include ion exchange as a most important factor. Although not yet completely understood, this involves the exchange of ions held by negative charges with other ions in the electrolyte (soil solution). Ion exchange is influenced by the fit of ions into a mineral structure. Relevant processes include hydration (adsorption of water), hydroxylation (adsorption of H⁺ and OH^- ions), oxidation (combination of oxygen, with loss of electrons to weathering agents), and reduction (depletion of combined oxygen). Ion exchange is controlled by the cation exchange capacity (CEC) expressed as the amount of exchangeable cations in milliequivalents per 100 grams clay at pH 7. Low CEC values are typical of kaolinitic clays and of actual or potential duricrusts.

Soil water will separate into oppositely charged ions, H⁺ and OH^-, and the CO₂ of the atmosphere and soil will yield HCO₃^- and free H⁺ ions in solution. These products promote displacement of some metal cations, especially those in mineral silicates, largely by H⁺ ions that combine with OH^- in removable solutes. The H⁺ ions are small and highly charged in relation to their size and can readily enter many crystal lattices; OH^- ions neutralize the small charges of Na⁺, K⁺, and the larger charges of Ca⁺⁺ and Mg⁺⁺. Positive charges in soil particles are partly related to hydrous oxides of iron, aluminum, and manganese. Negative charges, increasing with falling pH, are neutralized by positive ions, among which Al(OH)₂⁺ is one of the more significant. Negatively charged colloidal SiO₂ and colloidal Al₂O₃ and positively charged Fe₂O₃ probably interact at high concentrations of H⁺ ions to form clay minerals. Among these, the most stable are the one-to-one layer silicates of the kaolin family, in which each silicon–oxygen sheet is condensed with one aluminum hydroxide sheet.

At least part of the ion-exchange process involves organisms and organic substances. Chelating agents, complex amino acids, and allied compounds inactivate ions of aluminum and iron and hold them firmly in lattice structures. The ions then behave as if they were not present, except when acidity markedly decreases and they are redeposited. Manganese and silicon can be similarly treated. The combined processes of solution and eluviation (soluviation) and of chelation and eluviation (cheluviation) appear to act powerfully in the formation of oxide-rich plinthite prior to duricrust formation. In the mobilization and fixing of iron, as in the general production of organic acids, bacteria also play a part. Some act to form soluble iron, others oxidize soluble ferrous iron (Fe(OH)₂) to insoluble ferric iron (Fe₂O₃); and soil microorganisms, including bacteria, are specifically involved in the production of a number of prominent chelating agents.

Rock type, terrain, and water table fluctuations

Duricrusts occur on a wide range of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, including granites, basalts and gabbros, arenites, and argillites. There is only the roughest of tendencies for duricrust chemistry to be controlled by bedrock chemistry, even in similar climates, although nepheline syenites characteristically weather into allitic (aluminum-rich) crusts, basic igneous rocks into ferritic (iron-rich) to tiallitic (titanium–aluminum) crusts, and arenites and argillites, in some areas, into silitic (silica-rich) crusts. Ferritic crusts are more highly indurated, more variable in structure, and less strongly hydrated than aluminous crusts. Although structures in silitic crusts vary from pea-sized nodules to blocky and massive, with natural, subsurface erosion pipes at lower levels, these crusts are not hydrous.

Profile drainage is influential; ready leaching and alkaline to neutral conditions favour removal of silica and concentration of aluminum and also of titanium if available. Nearness to the water table promotes concentration of iron, whereas poor site drainage and acidity possibly favour accumulation of silica. Known distributions, however, suggest geographic contrasts between ferricrust and silcrust formation rather than lithological control, which appears to be effective only in transitional belts.

Terrain requirements for duricrust formation include gentle slopes or situations where groundwater can supply oxides of iron and manganese or both of these. Well-preserved fossil crusts on pediments or plains with maximum slopes of 8° to 10° (and average slopes of 2° or less) suggest feeble lateral movement of groundwater and relative enrichment of crusts by leaching. This contrasts with the active translocation responsible for the absolute enrichment of crusts at the base of scarps and on valley floors. Also indicative of groundwater action are the light-coloured and mottled zones of many deep-weathering profiles; the former are regarded as the result of kaolinization in a reducing (de-ionizing) environment, and the latter from seasonal fluctuation of the groundwater level. Incapacity of these zones to supply the iron content of numerous crusts confirms relative enrichment.

Effects of climate and time

Calccrusts, gypcrusts, and salcrusts are referable to dry climates, but duricrusts proper, at least in present and late Holocene occurrences (the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago), are referable to humid tropical climates, probably with seasonal dryness, coincident wet and warm seasons, and soil temperatures averaging 25° to 30° C (about 75° to 85° F). Under these conditions, 50 percent or more of the original rock volume can be lost during weathering, but the preservation of structures in some profiles indicates downward thickening rather than overall diminution.

A span of 30 to 50 years will convert a drying ferallitic clay to a ferallitic duricrust; but extrapolation from known values suggests that up to 15,000,000 years may be required to form really deep-weathering profiles. Such time spans seem to be well within the range of duration of humid tropical forests in the Paleogene and Neogene, however.

Climatic change presumably is responsible for the presence of duricrusts in equatorial areas that now receive more than 1,200 mm mean annual precipitation. The former northward extension of aridity in Africa, with Kalahari sand extending 1,600–3,000 kilometres (1,000–1,900 miles) beyond its present limit, is well documented. Similarly, former climates of the current humid tropical type are probably responsible for the presence of fossil crusts outside the tropics and for relict Paleogene and Neogene deep weathering. Such climates seem explicable in terms of reduced pole-to-Equator temperature gradients.

Although dehydration and hardening of duricrusts are often called irreversible, this is not true over the long term. Apart from disaggregation of eroding caps, residual ferricrusts can be attacked by renewed soil-formation processes, which remobilize iron and produce red-yellow soils called lateritic podzolics in older classifications.