ABSTRACT

In only a small number of rock types is chemical composition used, up to this time, as the main criterion in their petrographic classification and terminology. A new classification and terminology of rocks in the series bauxite-clay-iron oxide ore based on their quantitative mineral composition is proposed herein. The terms laterite and bauxite are explained not only from their substantive, but also from their genetic, point of view. Laterite is a relatively untransported weathered product, containing free aluminum hydroxide, derived in situ from the parent rock, whereas bauxite is a transported weathered product (detrital mode of occurrence). Both of these rocks, however, have the same mineral composition.