Tag: classification of soils

This is the most widely spread and important soil. In fact, the entire northern plains are made of alluvial soil. 

Peat soils are also called marshy soils. They are a result of waterlogging and anaerobic conditions (which leads to partial decomposition of organic matter). They are found in the areas of heavy rainfall and high humidity, where there is a good growth of vegetation. It occurs widely in the northern part of Bihar, the southern part of Uttaranchal and the coastal areas of West Bengal, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. These soils are normally heavy and black in color.

Black soils are derivatives of trapped lava. These are found mostly across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh on the Deccan plateau and the Malwa Plateau, where there is both moderate rainfall and underlying basaltic rock. This soil is best suitable for growing cotton.

The Kashmir Himalayas are also famous for Karewa formations, which are useful for the cultivation of Zafran, a local variety of saffron. Karewas are the thick deposits of glacial clay and other materials embedded with moraines.

According to their age alluvial soils can be classified as old alluvial (Bangar) and new alluvial (Khadar). The bangar soil has higher concentration of kanker nodules than the Khadar. It has more fine particles and is more fertile than the bangar.

Black soil is ideal for growing cotton and is also known as black cotton soil. The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e. clayey material. They are well-known for their capacity to hold moisture. In addition, they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents. 

These soils are black in color and are also known as regur soils. Since black soil is ideal for growing cotton, it is also known as black cotton soil. It is believed that climatic conditions along with the parent rock material are the important factors for the formation of black soil

Mountain soils are found in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal in the Himalayan mountain regions. They are rich in humus and in the drier areas of deciduous forest belt, brown soils are found. They are very good for orchard crops.

These brown forest soils are called Podzol of deciduous forests.