It has lots to do with it
Which laterite has to a degree, but nowhere near as much as hard rocks, because laterite is only as hard as its cement, most of which is clays. It’s not even the hardest relict pavement - silcrete is.
Same difference - laterite is metal oxides and quartz cemented with clays, but not diagenicized.
Naaah. Oxides can alter plenty after initial formation (not erosion, which they can also do, since there’s plenty of physical erosion paths, but weathering) You just have to look at the breakdown of BIFs to see that. Rocks made of iron oxides, but they break down, because iron oxides looove to form iron hydroxides.
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Just not sure how much of Ankor is laterite bricks and how much is sandstone. Maybe you can tell us.
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Maybe you can read the link?
"Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. " All those buildings you see? Sandstone.
It was good enough for lots of ancient artefacts that are still around today. Quarries are not the same as polished surfaces, which is generally what you do to the kind of worked stone you expect to have stick around.
That’s why I said orthoquartzite.
But laterite isn’t a meta-sediment of any sort. It’s not even a rock.