8. Vermillion Formation

Vermillion Formation

A very distinctive deposit formed when the planet entered a warmer, wetter period following the melting of the ice sheets. The shift appears to have been rather sudden, with the loess deposits being deeply cut by seasonal flood channels. The erosion of the underlying silty soil was curtailed likely within a few thousand years with the rapid growth of tropical forests and shrublands across the region. This dense covering of fast-growing vegetation led to rapid depletion of what soil there was, locking most nutrients in the flora and leaving behind brightly colored laterite soils that would prove poor for more temperate type plants, once the climate changed. It is this formation that makes the Veldt a relatively infertile region.