Meso- and Neoproterozoic paleosols, collected from different areas of the East European Craton: Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, offer a chance to examine continental weathering sequences from early to advanced stages of weathering on a variety of different parent materials such as gneisses, granites, gabbros and amphibolites. They were studied using quantitative XRD of the bulk rock, XRD and Mössbauer of the clay fractions, microscopic, geochemical, carbonate stable isotopes and carbonate U-Pb geochronology methods. These paleosol profiles are on average 10 m thick, reddish coloured, and many of them are characterized by a well-developed and well-defined alteration sequence with uppermost horizons approaching the lateritic stage, as indicated by the Chemical Index of Alteration values reaching 90. The dominant type of weathering leads towards kaolinite and a Fe-oxide/hydroxide mineral assemblage through a smectitic intermediate stage. In the paleosol profiles developed on mafic parent materials, dioctahedral smectite is the first weathering product at the base, it dominates in the middle-upper horizons and it later becomes unstable and alters into kaolinite; whereas in paleosols developed on felsic parent materials kaolinite forms already at the initial stage of weathering, as a result of Na-plagioclase dissolution. Kaolinite content in the uppermost horizons reaches 34 wt% in the best developed profile, and Fe-minerals (hematite and goethite) show a clear increasing trend towards the top, reaching 12 wt%. It is likely that uppermost kaolinite-dominated horizons, which are lacking in some profiles, have been eroded. Such paleosol composition and ferric composition of smectites indicate oxidative weathering and are interpreted to represent a warm and humid climate, which seems to have prevailed on the EEC over the Meso- and Neoproterozoic, except well-documented glacial periods. The δ¹³C signatures of the pedogenic carbonates document microbial processes in the paleosols, which is also indicated by the elevated U/Th values in their top layers. One paleosol was dated with in situ pedogenic calcite U-Pb geochronology at 655 ± 45 Ma (2σ), confirming the estimate based on its stratigraphic position. The Proterozoic paleosol profiles, and dioctahedral smectite in particular, remained unaltered for over 900 Ma until the Paleozoic, when they were affected by low-temperature (<110 °C) diagenesis, evidenced by the presence of K-Ar dated illite–smectite and aluminoceladonite. The maximum and the most common degree of the dioctahedral smectite illitization is 26% S; the %S zonation indicates that the illitizing fluids invaded paleosols from the overlying sediments.

从东欧克拉通不同地区收集的中和新元古代古土壤：白俄罗斯、爱沙尼亚、立陶宛和乌克兰，提供了一个机会来检查大陆风化序列，从早期到晚期的各种不同母体材料（如片麻岩）的风化阶段、花岗岩、辉长岩和角闪岩。使用大块岩石的定量 XRD、粘土组分的 XRD 和穆斯堡尔、微观、地球化学、碳酸盐稳定同位素和碳酸盐 U-Pb 年代学方法对它们进行了研究。这些古土壤剖面平均厚 10 m，呈红色，其中许多具有发育良好且界限分明的蚀变序列，最高层接近红土阶段，如化学蚀变指数值达到 90 所示。主要的风化类型通过蒙脱石中间阶段导致高岭石和铁氧化物/氢氧化物矿物组合。在基性母质发育的古土壤剖面中，二八面体蒙脱石是基部的第一个风化产物，在中上层占主导地位，后来变得不稳定并转变为高岭石；而在长英质母质上发育的古土壤中，高岭石已经在风化的初始阶段形成，这是钠斜长石溶解的结果。最上层高岭石含量在最佳发育剖面中达到 34 wt%，铁矿物（赤铁矿和针铁矿）向顶部呈明显增加趋势，达到 12 wt%。某些剖面中缺少的以高岭石为主的最上面的层很可能已被侵蚀。蒙脱石的这种古土壤成分和铁成分表明氧化风化作用，并被解释为代表温暖和潮湿的气候，除了有充分记录的冰川期外，这种气候似乎在中和新元古代在 EEC 上普遍存在。δ成土碳酸盐的¹³ C 特征记录了古土壤中的微生物过程，这也可以通过其顶层的 U/Th 值升高来表明。一个古土壤在 655 ± 45 Ma (2σ) 的原位成土方解石 U-Pb 年代学测定年代，证实了基于其地层位置的估计。元古代古土壤剖面，特别是双八面体蒙脱石，在 900 Ma 之前一直保持不变，直到古生代受到低温（<110 °C）成岩作用的影响，K-Ar 年代的伊利石-蒙脱石和铝瓷。双八面体蒙脱石伊利石化的最大和最常见程度为26% S；%S分带表明伊利化流体从上覆沉积物侵入古土壤。