As two of the lavas of the Giant's Causeway are parted by a bed of lignite, it is not improbable that the layers of laterite seen in the Antrim cliffs resulted from atmospheric decomposition.
"The Student's Elements of Geology"
Sir Charles Lyell
In Madeira and the Canary Islands streams of lava of subaerial origin are often divided by red bands of laterite, probably ancient soils formed by the decomposition of the surfaces of lava-currents, many of these soils having been coloured red in the atmosphere by oxide of iron, others burnt into a red brick by the overflowing of heated lavas.
"The Student's Elements of Geology"
Sir Charles Lyell
In India, however, especially in the Deccan, the term "laterite" seems to have been used too vaguely to answer the above definition.
"The Student's Elements of Geology"
Sir Charles Lyell