INDIAN SOILS

OVERVIEW

India is a country of vast dimensions with varied conditions of geology, relief, climate and vegetation. Therefore, India has a large variety of soil groups, distinctly different from one another. Different criteria have been applied to classify Indian soils, the outstanding being geology, relief, fertility, chemical composition and physical structure, etc.

Any classification based on any one of the aforesaid criteria has its own inherent drawback. Even the most competent pedologist would find it difficult to present an accurate, complete, comprehensive and generalised account of the Indian soils.

 

CLASSIFICATIONS

  1. Alluvial soils
  2. Black (or Regur soil)
  3. Red and Yellow soils
  4. Laterite soils
  5. Arid and desert soils
  6. Saline and alkaline soils
  7. Peaty and marshy soils
  8. Forest and mountain soils

 

Alluvial soil

Alluvial soils are by far the largest and the most important soil group of India. Covering about 15 lakh sq km or about 45.6 per cent of the total land area of the country, these soils contribute the largest share of our agricultural wealth and support the bulk of India’s population.

Most of the alluvial soils are derived from the sediments deposited by rivers as in the Indo-Gangetic plain although some alluvial soils in the coastal areas have been formed by the sea waves. Thus the parent material of these soils is all of transported origin.

The streams bring with them the products of weathering of rocks from the mountains and deposit them in the low-lying areas. The alluvial soils are yet immature and have weak profiles. They differ in consistency from drift sand to rich loams and from silts to stiff clays. A few occasional kankar beds are also present.

 

‌Black soil

The black soils are also called regur (from the Telugu word Reguda) and black cotton soils because cotton is the most important crop grown on these soils. Several theories have been put forward regarding the origin of this group of soils but most pedologists believe that these soils have been formed due to the solidifaction of lava spread over large areas during volcanic activity in the Deccan Plateau, thousands of years ago.

Most of the black soils are derived from two types of rocks, the Deccan and the Rajmahal trap, and ferruginous gneisses and schists occurring in Tamil Nadu. The former are sufficiently deep while the later are generally shallow.

Krebs holds that the regur is essentially a mature soil which has been produced by relief and climate, rather than by a particular type of rock. According to him, this soil occurs where the annual rainfall is between 50 to 80 cm and the number of rainy days range from 30 to 50. The occurrence of this soil in the west deccan where the rainfall is about 100 cm and the number of rainy days more than 50, is considered by him to be an exception.

 

Red and Yellow soil

This comprehensive term designates the largest soil group of India, comprising several minor types. Most of the red soils have come into existence due to weathering of ancient crystalline and metamorphic rocks.

The main parent rocks are acid granites and gneisses, quartzitic and felspathic. The colour of these soils is generally red, often grading into brown, chocolate, yellow, grey or even black. The red colour is due more to the wide diffusion rather than to high percentage of iron content.

The red soils occupy a vast area of about 3.5 lakh sq km which is about 10.6 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. These soils are spread on almost the whole of Tamil Nadu, parts of Karnataka, south-east of Maharashtra, eastern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Chota Nagpur in Jharkhand.

 

Laterite soil

The word ‘laterite’ (from Latin letter meaning brick) was first applied by Buchanan in 1810 to a clayey rock, hardening on exposure, observed in Malabar. But many authors agree with Fermor’s restriction of this term to soils formed as to 90-100 per cent of iron, aluminium, titanium and manganese oxides.

We have numerous varieties of laterite which have bauxite at one end and an indefinite mixture of ferric oxides at the other. Almost all laterite soils are very poor in lime and magnesia and deficient in nitrogen. Sometimes, the phosphate content may be high, probably present in the form of iron phosphate but potash is deficient. At some places, there may be higher content of humus.

Laterite and lateritic soils are widely spread in India and cover an area of 2.48 lakh sq km. They are mainly found on the summits of Western Ghats at 1000 to 1500 m above mean sea level, Eastern Ghats, the Rajamahal Hills, Vindhyas, Satpuras and Malwa Plateau.

Due to intensive leaching and low base exchange capacity, typical laterite soils generally lack fertility and are of little use for crop production. But when manured and irrigated, some laterites and lateritics are suitable for growing plantation crops like tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona, coconut, arecanut, etc. In low lying areas paddy is also grown.

 

Forest and Mountain soils

Such soils are mainly found on the hill slopes covered by forests. These soils occupy about 2.85 lakh sq km which is about 8.67 per cent of the total land area of India. The formation of these soils is mainly governed by the characteristic deposition of organic matter derived from forest growth.

These soils are heterogeneous in nature and their character changes with parent rocks, ground-configuration and climate. Consequently, they differ greatly even if they occur in close proximity to one another. In the Himalayan region, such soils are mainly found in valley basins, depressions, and less steeply inclined slopes. Generally, it is the north facing slopes which support soil cover; the southern slopes being too precipitous and exposed to denudation to be covered with soil.

Apart from the Himalayan region, the forest soils occur on Western and Eastern Ghats as well as in some parts of the Peninsular plateau.

The forest soils are very rich in humus but are deficient in potash, phosphorus and lime. Therefore, they require good deal of fertilizers for high yields. They are especially suitable for plantations of tea, coffee, spices and tropical fruits in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and wheat, maize, barley and temperate fruits in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

 

Arid and Desert soil

A large part of the arid and semi-arid region in Rajasthan and adjoining areas of Punjab and Haryana lying between the Indus and the Aravalis, covering an area of 1.42 lakh sq km (or 4.32% of total area) and receiving less than 50 cm of annual rainfall, is affected by desert conditions.

The Rann of Kuchchh in Gujarat is an extension of this desert. This area is covered by a mantle of sand which inhibits soil growth. This sand has originated from the mechanical disintegration of the ground rocks or is blown from the Indus basin and the coast by the prevailing south-west monsoon winds. Barren sandy soils without clay factor are also common in coastal regions of Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The desert soils consist of aeolian sand (90 to 95 per cent) and clay (5 to 10 per cent).

Some of these soils contain high percentages of soluble salts, are alkaline with varying degree of calcium carbonate and are poor in organic matter. Over large parts, the calcium content increases downwards and in certain areas the subsoil has ten times calcium as compared to that of the top soil.

 

Saline and Alkine soil

These soils are found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the drier parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, there are salt-impregnated or alkaline soils occupying 68,000 sq km of area. These soils are liable to saline and alkaline efflorescences and are known by different names such as reh, kallar, usar, thur, rakar, karl and chopan.

There are many undecomposed rock and mineral fragments which on weathering liberate sodium, magnesium and calcium salts and sulphurous acid. Some of the salts are transported in solution by the rivers, which percolate in the sub-soils of the plains.

In canal irrigated areas and in areas of high sub-soil water table, the injurious salts are transferred from below to the top soil by the capillary action as a result of evaporation in dry season. The accumulation of these salts makes the soil infertile and renders it unfit for agriculture.

 

Peaty and Marshy soil

Peatysoils originate in humid regions as a result of accumulation of large amounts of organic matter in the soils. These soils contain considerable amount of soluble salts and 10-40 per cent of organic matter. Soils belonging to this group are found in Kottayam and Alappuzha districts of Kerala where it is called kari.Marshy soils with a high proportion of vegetable matter also occur in the coastal areas of Orissa and Tamil Nadu, Sunderbans of West Bengal, in Bihar and Almora district of Uttaranchal.

The peaty soils are black, heavy and highly acidic. They are deficient in potash and phosphate. Most of the peaty soils are under water during the rainy season but as soon the rains cease, they are put under paddy cultivation.

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