Miocene weathering environments in Western Australia-Inferences from the abundance and 13C/12C of Fe(CO3)OH in CID goethite

More frequent summer storms in the Miocene, may have been a significant factor in forming and eroding these soil systems and in concentrating large volumes of oolitic Fe(III) oxides in the local river systems to form channel iron deposits. However, published (U-Th)/He ages indicate that the oolitic CID goethites of Mesa J became closed systems after ∼7 Ma, which suggests a change in local climate and/or conditions of burial at about that time in the Miocene.