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The "seven-coloured earth" of Chamarel, Mauritius

DSpace at IIT Bombay

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Title The "seven-coloured earth" of Chamarel, Mauritius
 
Creator SHETH, HC
JOHNSON, CP
OLLIER, CD
 
Subject indian-ocean
lavas
petrogenesis
geochemistry
mauritius
chamarel
basalt
weathering
rills
coloured earth
 
Description The "seven-coloured earth" of Chamarel is a geological curiosity and a major tourist attraction of Mauritius. This is a small (similar to 7500 m(2)) area of strikingly bare landscape showing well-developed rills and various shades of red, brown, grey, and purple. Curiously, it is located within a large, dense forest. Prevalent misconceptions are that the landscape formed due to a volcanic eruption, or from volcanic ash. Whereas the bedrock is undoubtedly an old volcanic rock (basalt), the colours are due to weathering of the basalt and the formation of secondary iron oxides and hydroxides in it, and the rilling is a result of deforestation and sheet erosion, i.e., human modification of the landscape. Such features, inadequately described in the literature so far, also occur in Papua New Guinea, and may be common in tropical, high-rainfall regions with volcanic bedrock. (C) 2009
 
Publisher PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
 
Date 2011-08-27T00:01:04Z
2011-12-26T12:57:38Z
2011-12-27T05:44:19Z
2011-08-27T00:01:04Z
2011-12-26T12:57:38Z
2011-12-27T05:44:19Z
2010
 
Type Article
 
Identifier JOURNAL OF AFRICAN EARTH SCIENCES, 57(1-2), 169-173
1464-343X
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2009.07.009
http://dspace.library.iitb.ac.in/xmlui/handle/10054/11471
http://hdl.handle.net/10054/11471
 
Language en