Phanerozic bauxite epochs

Abstract

The Early Cambrian, Middle and Late Devonian, Middle and Late Carboniferous, Permian, Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene-Eocene, and Miocene epochs of bauxite formation have been the most productive. They lasted for no less than 10 Ma. The scope of bauxite deposition of various epochs is shown in the diagram, and the present-day localization of Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic bauxites is depicted in separate maps. The Cenozoic bauxite deposits are located in tropical and subtropical zones of the Southern and Northern hemispheres. The Mesozoic deposits occur in the Northern Hemisphere as far north as 50°N, and the Paleozoic deposits, as far north as 70°N. Palinspastic reconstructions show that during all the aforementioned epochs, bauxites were deposited at paleotropical latitudes. The current localization of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic bauxites at high latitudes up to the Polar Circle is caused by continental drift to the north in the Phanerozoic.