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🧱 Duricrust and Laterite Hardpan Formation

Discover how iron and aluminum sesquioxides leach and re-precipitate through tropical soil profiles under alternating wet and dry seasons, cementing a rock-hard duricrust cap known as laterite.

Geology & Earth Science3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water 🌍 Earth

The simulation demonstrates how iron and aluminum sesquioxides are leached, mobilized, and re-precipitated within a tropical soil profile under alternating wet and dry seasons, gradually cementing a hardened duricrust layer.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the sliders for rainfall intensity, wet-dry cycle length, and parent rock composition to watch oxide-rich cement accumulate and harden into a laterite caprock over simulated time.

💡 Did You Know?

Some laterite-capped plateaus in tropical regions preserve land surfaces that have remained protected from erosion for tens of millions of years, acting as natural time capsules of ancient climate.

⚙ Under the hood

Discover how iron and aluminum sesquioxides leach and re-precipitate through tropical soil profiles under alternating wet and dry seasons, cementing a rock-hard duricrust cap known as laterite.

lateriteduricrustweatheringiron oxidetropical soilspedogenesisaluminum hydroxideregolith

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install