Regolith Science - From Interpreting Fossils to Watching it Happen - A Proposal

Regolith dating clearly shows that most of the weathering profiles found on the Australian continent have existed since the Tertiary. This is a fundamental problem for determining and understanding the processes that may have contributed to weathering profile formation because it introduces the possibility that the profiles being studied are fossils, preserved remnants of once more active systems. Even in tropical climates, which have long been advocated as the environments most likely to be responsible for 'laterite ' formation, the possible antiquity of the weathering profiles (e.g. Twidale 1994, Nott 1994 and Dammer et al. 1996) could make it difficult to distinguish between what are products of current weathering processes and what are products of weathering that has occurred in the past. One obvious, but costly, way to solve this problem would be to set up multiple large-scale in-field experiments, where weathering processes could be compared across different climatic environments and where weathering rates could be accurately defined. This may seem a near-impossible undertaking but it does not need to be, as it is argued here, because similar experiments already exist. These are more commonly known as mine waste-rock stockpiles and post-mine final landforms. Waste-rock stockpile research currently being undertaken at Ranger Uranium Mine (RUM) in Australia's Northern Territory is revealing the potential for such structures to be used for large scale weathering studies in the natural environment. It is also