FACTS

Study of soils – PEDOLOGY

Upper layer of mantle rock
Consisting of very small
particles & humus which can
support the growth of plants
Form under natural conditions
 Water content

Living organism SOIL Air molecules

Organic matter
 ANCIENT PERIOD

SOIL

Urvera Usara
Fertile Sterile

 India – ICAR – Classify - soil – 8 types

 ICAR – Indian council for Agricultural research
1. Alluvial Soil
2. Black Soil
3. Red & Yellow Soil
4. Laterite Soil
5. Mountainous Soil
6. Desert Soil
7. Saline Soil
8. Peaty & Marshy Soil
 Alluvial Soil
 Northern plains (40% of the area of
India )
 Colour :- light grey to ash grey
 Mostly proportion of potash, phosphoric
acid and lime
 Alluvial soil is also found in the eastern
coastal plains
 deposited by three important Himalayan
river systems – the Indus, the Ganga and
the Brahmaputra
 soils are also described on the basis of
their age
There are two types of Alluvial soils
 ALLUVIAL SOIL

KHADAR BHANGAR

 New alluvium  Old alluvium

 Near the flood  Deposited always from
plains of rivers the flood plains

 Both contains kankers (impure calcium carbonate )

 Crops – wheat , maize, sugarcane, pulses, oilseeds.
 Found – on the bank of ganga, Narmada, Tapi, UP, Punjab, Bihar,
Haryana, west Bengal & Assam
 BLACK SOIL
 Regur soil
 Black cotton soil
 Cover 15% of total land area of country
 Colour :- deep black to grey
 Nature :- clayey
 Rainy – sticky
 capacity to hold moisture
 Dry season – moisture evaporates, soil shrink &
develops cracks.
 rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate,
magnesium, potash and lime.
 generally poor in phosphoric contents
 Crops – cotton, pulses, millets,
tobacco, citrus fruits
 Found – Deccan plateau
 Forms on the breaking up of basalt
rocks (igneous rock )
 Seems black – due to the presence of
Tetanomagnetite
 RED & YELLOW SOIL
 Seen mainly in low rainfall area
 Also known as omnibus group
 Porous structure
 Red because of ferric oxide
 Texture – sandy to clayey
 Found in mainly eastern and southern parts
of the Deccan plateau Odisha & Chhattisgarh
 Yellow and red soils are also found in parts of
Odisha, Chhattisgarh, southern parts of the Red & yellow soil
middle Ganga plain
 It looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated
form.
 LATERITE SOIL
 Becomes soft – wet & hard – dried
 Found in the area of high temp. & high rainfall
 Rich in – Fe & Al
 Colour :- red colour due to iron oxide
 Deficient in – N, potassium, lime , humus, potash
 Crops :- sugarcane , cashew nuts
 Leaching – to be removed from soil by liquids passing through it.
 Laterite soil is the result of leaching due to heavy rain
 Nature – acidic soils
 Occurs mostly in southern states ( Tamilnadu & Andhra Pradesh )
 Mountain soil

 Mountainous region of the country

 Acidic in nature
 Himalayan region
 Desert/Arid soil
 Seen under arid & semi-arid
conditions
 Highly salt content
 Lack of moisture & humus
 Texture :- sandy
 Colour :- red to brown
 Nitrogen is insufficient
 Deposited mainly by wind activities
 Saline in nature
 Found in Western RJ, HR,PB &
extends up to the Rann of Kutch in GJ
 PEATY / MARSHY SOIL

 Areas of high rainfall

 Black in colour
 Large quantity of dead organic
matter / humus , makes the
soil alkaline