Abstract

Recent bauxite deposits occur in areas characterised by tropical monsoon climate. All available paleoclimatic evidence suggests that similar climatic conditions prevailed where bauxite was formed in the geologic past, at least since the Devonian, when land vegetation spread over the continents. Thus well dated bauxite deposits are reliable paleoclimatic and paleogeographic indicators.

In the second part of the paper the locations and dimensions of the bauxite deposits are listed, from the Carboniferous to the end of the Jurassic. The frequency of bauxite occurrence is compared with the global climatic conditions. A first expansion of bauxite deposits started in the Middle Devonian, reaching a peak during the Early Carboniferous, in good agreement with the globally warm and wet climate of this time. The global climate was unfavourable during the Triassic and Early and Middle Jurassic, allowing the formation of only a restricted number of bauxite deposits.

In the last part of the paper published paleogeographic and paleoclimatic maps are compared with the distribution of bauxite deposits. Generally good accordance was found with these maps. In some areas additional data were provided by the presence of bauxite deposits.