Identifying Temperature and Moisture Controls on Fe Oxide Origins

Abstract

Magnetism, redness, and Fe oxides are indicators of pedoclimatic conditions. However, uncertainties with observing how Fe oxides form within soils has led to debates about relationships between magnetic mineral assemblages, temperature, and rainfall. To address these issues, Fe oxides from the equatorial tropics of Kenya were examined in Pliocene soils that developed under orbital forcing of the monsoon. Results demonstrate that with warm‐wet monsoons, ferrimagnetic production was increased and correlated with hematite concentrations, in accordance with expectations that ferrimagnetic and hematite minerals codevelop from amorphous Fe oxides. With cool‐dry monsoons, hematite concentrations increased but ferrimagnetic production decreased and decoupled from hematite development. These findings suggest that decreased rainfall rather than temperature change favored the dehydration step required to catalyze hematite enrichment within soils. This study explains Fe oxides origins under variable monsoonal climates and recognizes moisture changes in comparison to temperature as stronger controls on the production of soil‐formed hematite.