Silcrete

Silcrete is an indurated (resists crumbling or powdering) soil duricrust formed when surface soil, sand, and gravel are cemented by dissolved silica. The formation of silcrete is similar to that of calcrete, formed by calcium carbonate, and ferricrete, formed by iron oxide. It is a hard and resistant material, and though different in origin and nature, appears similar to quartzite. As a duricrust, there is potential for preservation of root structures as trace fossils.

Silcrete is common in the arid regions of Australia and Africa often forming the resistant cap rock on features such as the breakaways of the Stuart Range of South Australia. Silcrete can be found at a lesser extent throughout the world especially England (e.g. Hertfordshire puddingstone and sarsen stone), and France.^[1] In the Great Plains of the United States, polished silcrete cobbles are locally common on the surface and in river gravels east of the outcrops of the Ogallala Formation.^[2][3]