Laterite is a soil and rock type rich in iron and aluminium, and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock. Tropical weathering (laterization) is a prolonged process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
Quarrying of Laterite Masonry Blocks
The methods of quarrying, dressing and construction all are entirely different from other stone masonry materials. Laterite blocks are soft for easy quarrying and shaping, but they become hard when exposed to atmospheric oxygen. The ease of cutting and shaping laterite and hardening with age due atmospheric exposure makes its use different and versatile in building applications. Manual quarrying and dressing was adopted in the past was more laborious and time consuming. Machine quarrying of laterite was invented and used for the first time in Kerala, India using mobile rotary saw machine that was introduced for the first time and popularised since 1993. It consists of following steps: (i) Removal of top soil and levelling the surface, (ii) Marking lines on levelled horizontal bed of laterite, (iii) Moving cutters through these lines up to desired depth of stone, and (iv) Dis-lodging stones manually using bars and hauling to construction site.
