Late Quaternary deposits in Gujarat, western India show an abundant de
velopment of calcretes. Three major sinks of carbonate in the alluvial
deposits are recognized: (1) groundwater calcretes, (2) pedogenic cal
cretes, and (3) calcrete conglomerates. Groundwater calcretes originat
e from carbonate-saturated waters travelling preferentially along stra
tification planes. Pedogenic calcretes form through soil-forming proce
sses typically in extra-channel areas. Calcrete conglomerates occur as
ribbons, sheets and lenses due to the reworking of both pedogenic as
well as groundwater calcretes. As a result a pathway of calcretization
develops that has the route: groundwater calcrete to pedogenic calcre
te to calcrete-conglomerate. The formation of pedogenic calcretes over
sediments containing groundwater calcretes demonstrates that (1) apar
t from aeolian dust, river waters are also a major source of carbonate
, and (2) pedogenic carbonates may attain large sizes at accelerated r
ates due to the presence of pre-existing groundwater calcretes. Conseq
uently, the maturity of a soil may be overestimated if determined by f
ollowing established morphogenetic sequences. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc
e B.V. All rights reserved.