**4. Final considerations**

Tropical soils occur over a large area of the planet, occupying about 40% of the surface. The tropical climate is responsible for the laterization process, which generates well-drained soils, porous, reddish in color, and with characteristics different from those of temperate soils and that may require, by their nature, solutions different from those proposed by classical soil mechanics.

Despite the importance of these soils, there is still no integrated database on their characteristics and behavior. In Brazil, residual and saprolitic soils are a challenge to engineering because they range from highly weathered and well-drained, porous soils in tropical and subtropical climates to thin and poorly developed soils in regions of the country where the drier climate predominates.

This chapter has aimed to approach some aspects of the soils in Brazil, without the pretension of exhausting the subject, which is of great interest to the country and others that are located in the tropical region.

There is a need for further investigation of soils not only in terms of fertility or application to agriculture, as is often the case, but also in terms of geotechnical aspects for the execution of foundations and roads, retaining structures, among others, so that field and laboratory tests can be conducted, not only in the south and southeast regions, but also in other regions, considering the constant expansion of the country's infrastructure, including international partnerships.
