To shed light on lateritic evolution, six profiles were studied of weathered sediment developed on the Solimões Formation and one profile on Quaternary floodplain deposits of the Solimões River within the Solimões basin in the center-east of Amazonas State. The profiles on the Solimões Formation are comprised upwards of saprolitic (C), mottled (B) and soil (A) horizons, while the profile on the Quaternary floodplain sediments has only the saprolitic (C) and soil (A) horizons. All profiles are clayey-sands to sandy-clays, grey, yellowish, reddish or whitish and predominantly composed of quartz, kaolinite, muscovite, illite and smectite. Based on their textural, mineralogical, and chemical characteristics, the profiles are divided into two groups. Profiles 2, 3, 4 and 5 are sandy-clays, have high contents of SiO2, Hg and Zr and are only associated with the Solimões Formation; Profiles 1, 6 and 7 are pelitic, have higher contents of smectite, illite and muscovite, Al2O3, alkalis and trace-elements, especially Ba, Co, Li, Ni, Sr, V, Y and Zn, and are found on both the Solimões Formation and the Quaternary floodplain sediments. This suggests that the Solimões Formation was the source for some of the Quaternary floodplain sediments in the region. The set of mineralogical and chemical characteristics indicates a similarity between horizons within each profile. The profiles on the Solimões Formation are not highly weathered, despite the hot and rainy climate prevailing in the Coari region (2300 mm.year-1), which would favor intense leaching. Therefore the studied profiles are in disequilibrium with the lateritic environment in Amazonia.
Neossolos; Solimões Formation; lateritization