Mitsy Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 ...As I have been learning all the new stuff on aquatic plant care I have come across this term which sounded familiar. Now I find out that it is a soil product for supplying iron to the plants. Can this be the very same red clay soil that abounds in our foot hills? They are known as lateritic soils and some are very, very red. Can I utilize this soil as dry pellets implanted in the substrate? This stuff will cloud water very quickly, so I bet its a trick to use it. To think, I may have it here, right at my fingertips! Anyone want some? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 Mitsy said... > Can this be the very same red clay soil that abounds in our > foot hills? They are known as lateritic soils and some are > very, very red. Can I utilize this soil as dry pellets implanted > in the substrate? Laterite is a very red clay found in various places around the world so it's not impossible that's what you've got. You'd need to experiment or talk to one of the specific CA based Aquatic Plant groups I suspect. Andrew, who'd love a good local source of laterite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cees Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 Andrew, who'd love a good local source of laterite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitsy Posted August 6, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 ...I would be glad to put some in a box for you! Oh, my, I just received my plant shipment, she added some extras, and now I have more plants than aquarium! My learning curve just got steeper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Caryl said... > I got this from a 'local source (geochemist)', apparently there > is a big band of laterite in the takaka hills on the Golden bay > side (top of South Island). Ah... sounds interesting... maybe somewhere to explore when we're down for next years conference...? I'd heard there was some north of Auckland too but no one seems to know specifics. > ... other local source http://www.brooklands.co.nz/article/109.htm > I've seen it in Lower Hutt petshop Yeah, I've seen it for sale in shops too. Imported and *very* expensive. I want it to experiment with some carnivorous plants from Western Australia. Saw plenty of it there last year. Anywhere you saw a patch of lateritic gravel by the side of the road was bound to be home to at least some species, also Stylidium and orchids... Thanks Caryl. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Mitsy said... > ...I would be glad to put some in a box for you! Thanks, but a tad impractical :-( Something will turn up, it always does if you ask enough people... Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Caryl said... > I got this from a 'local source (geochemist)', apparently there > is a big band of laterite in the takaka hills on the Golden bay > side (top of South Island). I said that?? How clever of me. Where did I say it? I don't know any geochemists. Did I say if it is accessible and where exactly it was? Grant goes over that way fairly often and could pick some up if it was beside the road (and not too heavy) and had a big sign and an arrow pointed at it with "Get your Laterite here" written on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cees Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Caryl said... > I got this from a 'local source (geochemist)', apparently there > is a big band of laterite in the takaka hills on the Golden bay > side (top of South Island). I said that?? How clever of me. Where did I say it? I don't know any geochemists. Did I say if it is accessible and where exactly it was? Grant goes over that way fairly often and could pick some up if it was beside the road (and not too heavy) and had a big sign and an arrow pointed at it with "Get your Laterite here" written on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 I will be looking for your reply as well cees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Caryl said (no, really, she did)... > I said that?? How clever of me. Where did I say it? Ooops! OK, it was *actually* Cees. Blame brain fade. Anyway, thanks Cees, interested in any info you come up with. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 We've got laterite here in the Waikato, I just dig it out of a road cutting on the road to Bridal Veil falls out in Raglan direction. Rob ps Andrew, you should ask Len Trigg about it - he was the one that looked at the soil maps and then told the club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Once Cees finds out where exactly it is, and if it is accessible, I am happy to put up with ... er I mean put up a group at my place then take them over there to go digging. Grant knows the Takaka area reasonably well. We could do a day trip from Blenheim. It takes about 2 and a half hours to get from here to the top of the Takaka hill. Too far for a conference bus trip (and very windy - as in winding roads, not strong winds) but easy for someone who wants to stay a day or two extra and do the trip then (a lot harder to dig in the frost though!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cees Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Found the location of laterite I mentioned, it's not the takaka hill but in onekaka. The information is in a pdf document downloadable from here http://www.med.govt.nz/crown_minerals/m ... 5_iron.pdf This is the paragrah describing the lateritic deposite. I guess one of the keywords is 'surficial'. Redeposited lateritic limonite, Onekaka Bodies of surficial limonitic iron ore occur in a belt from Ironstone Creek, Onekaka, north to the Parapara Inlet. They lie mainly on Arthur Marble and are preserved in a fault-angle depression (Bishop, 1971). The material is thought to be laterite, transported from the Tertiary peneplain and deposited in caves within the marble (Grindley and Watters, 1965). The material consists of hydrous iron oxides, and is compact, spongy, botryoidal, or earthy, with a mineralogy of limonite, goethite, turgite (hydrohematite), quartz and mica, and less commonly, pyrite and selenite (Williams, 1974). Onekaka ore was first mined by Maori for use as a colouring medium (Williams, 1974). Small quantities were quarried in the 1880s and 1890s for use in paint manufacture. About 813,000 t were mined between 1922 and 1935 to produce 40,640 t of pig iron (Grindley and Watters, 1965). A small amount was also mined for use in gas purification. Landreth (1946) estimated total indicated and inferred resources of 9.65 Mt of ore at an average grade of 40% Fe, and gave individual average grade figures of 51.79% Fe (Washbourne), 45.17% Fe (Onekaka), and 50.48% Fe (Tukurua). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cees Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 The pdf document mentioned above has some more interesting paragraphs in it about laterite here is a summary Residual iron laterite deposits Iron may be selectively concentrated in residual deposits as weathering removes the more soluble silica and other materials. Weathering of ultramafic rocks such as serpentinised peridotites, pyroxenite and dunites under tropical conditions, may form laterite iron deposits with 40-55% Fe. Iron laterites form extensive mantles and plateaux, up to 20 m thick, but more typically less than 6 m thick, and consist of nodular red, yellow or brown hematite and goethite. Bog iron limonite deposits of Northland Small limonitic bog iron deposits occur near Kaeo, Okaihau, Kerikeri and Kamo. They have been formed from leaching of ferrous iron from Kerikeri Basalt by carbonated surface and ground waters with subsequent deposition at the surface of ferric hydroxides. The Potaetupuhi Bush deposit on the Okaihau-Kerikeri Road consists of small patches of high grade limonite (average analysis of 43.1% Fe) that extend over a total area of 4 ha (Bell and Clarke, 1909). Another deposit near Okaihau, has been intermittently worked, producing a combined total of 39,111 t up until 1961. The material was used as an agricultural stock lick to relieve 'bush-sickness', as an absorbent in the purification of coal gas, as a colouring agent in bricks, and as road metal. The deposit is less than 1 m thick and some 60,000 t containing 60% Fe 2 O 3 remain. The deposit near Kamo has been intermittently worked, producing 26,165 t of ore up until 1961. The deposit near Kaeo contains between 10 and 36% Fe 2 O 3 and may be an exhumed fossil laterite. Similar buried deposits could be discovered elsewhere in the region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 How do we actually recognise this ?? If we are talking of a red to orangy brown soil then my upper paddock has literally tons of the stuff. Personally, it never seems to grow anything on it, not even weeds, so perhaps this is not Laterite at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenbok Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 How do we actually recognise this ?? If we are talking of a red to orangy brown soil then my upper paddock has literally tons of the stuff. Personally, it never seems to grow anything on it, not even weeds, so perhaps this is not Laterite at all Laterite is the iron-rich red clay that has been indurated (which basically means naturally baked). This process ensures that it doesn't cloud the water too much. The geographic maps I've seen of laterite distribution show that it should be available pretty much all through the north half of the north island (and probably in a few locations elsewhere). Usually on elevated sites, often where there is erosion. The laterite I have collected previously was at a site just north of Orewa where there was a lot of erosion that had revealed the laterite, and you could easily see the difference between the good hard stuff vs the wet clay. Before putting into the fishtank, I crunched it up into much smaller granules with a suitably hard implement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 Good to see you back Lenbok. We are North of Orewa, and are around 200' above sea level Haven't really took much interest in the stuff on our land, but I will certainly check it out if this bloody rain ever stops You can actually dig this stuff, eg, it's not solid to that extent, but if I remember right it was crumbly. First time I saw it it reminded me of the soil around Pukekoe where they grow all the spuds and onions Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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