Author(s)

Fidèle Kaboré¹, Gounwendmanaghré Hubert Zongo², Bright Fafali Dogbey³, Korodjouma Ouattara⁴, Younoussa Millogo⁵, Limata Kaboré⁶, Edmond Hien^1,7, Prosper N. Zombré¹

¹Laboratoire Sols, Matériaux et Environnement (LSME), Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
²Laboratoire de Géosciences et Environnement Minier, Université de Fada, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
³Department of Soil Resources Management, CSIR-College of Science and Technology, Accra, Ghana.
⁴Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
⁵Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques (UFR/ST), Université Nazi BONI, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
⁶Bureau des Mines et de la Géologie du Burkina Faso (BUMIGEB), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
⁷Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, France.

Uncertainties remain as to the ability of certain carbonate rocks to form the red soils covering them. These doubts, which have been the subject of debate for several decades, become real when carbonate rocks are pure and low in insoluble residues. In the carbonate rocks of the Taoudeni basin in Burkina Faso, brown-red to red soils develop, at the top of hillsides and in karstic cavities. No study in the region has yet shown the existence in these carbonate rocks of sufficient insolubles to form soils after decalcification. The objective of this study was therefore to identify and quantify the minerals of carbonate rocks in order to identify the origin of red soils. Petrographic, chemical (XRF) and mineralogical (XRD) investigations on dominant carbonate rocks features in the study area show that the rocks studied are mainly magnesian dolomites (Dolomite > 50% of carbonate minerals and Ca/Mg ratio < 1.5). Non-carbonate residues from detrital and hydrothermal origin, negligible in certain pure dolomites (<2%), are on the other hand significant (>12%) in other dolomitic features. These insoluble silicates formed of quartz, potassium feldspar (orthoclase), clays (talc, phlogopite and kaolinite) and iron oxides constitute the main original material of reddened soils in karstic cavities.

Dolostone, Mineralogy, Parent Material, Alteration, Rubification

Kaboré, F. , Zongo, G. , Dogbey, B. , Ouattara, K. , Millogo, Y. , Kaboré, L. , Hien, E. and Zombré, P. (2021) Implications of Non-Carbonate Dolomite Minerals in the Formation of Red Soils in a Paleokarstic Context in the Taoudeni Basin in Burkina Faso. Open Journal of Soil Science, 11, 59-71. doi: 10.4236/ojss.2021.112004.