Different Types of Soils in India Essay

1. desolate disfigurements The principal surface ara of opaque soils is the Dec cornerstone plateau and its periphery extending from 845to 26o north latitude and 68o to 83o45 east longitude. They argon form from Dec humbledlife basalt trap rocks and fleet in aras beneath the monsoon climate, by and large of semi- desiccate and sub-humid types. The overall climate of black soil office may be described as calorifacient and run dry summer, 40-100 cm rainwater per annum, mild to mitigate winters and annual temperature ranges from 24-30o centigrade, mean maximum temperature during April-May ranges from 3642C arid mean minimum temperature during winter ranges from 15-24 centigrade. Semi-arid to sub-humid, tropical to sub-tropical monsoon type climate with alternate dry and wet periods and calcification ( brass of calcium carbonate) atomic number 18 favourable to the formation of black soils.The soils ar characterised by relentless colorize to black colouration with 3 5-60% clay, neutral to just about alkalic chemical reaction, eminent s surfaceing and shrinkage, plasticity, deep cracks during summer and worthless status of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus. Impeded waste pipe and depressed permeability ar the study problems. Black soils. are split up into shallow black soil of a depth of 30-50 cms, medium black soils of 50-120 cm and deep black soils of more than 120 centimeters. The rude(a) vegetation comprises dry deciduous species, viz palas (Butes frondoss), sisam (Dalbergia sisu), nim tree (Azadirachta indica) and teak (Tectona grandis).Cotton, sugar faecese, groundnut, millets, maize, pulses, saff discredit are the common exercises grownup on these soils. Because of their inherent drainage problem, they are wedded to salinity and sodicity under irrigated conditions unless proper drainage is ensured. Because of its laid-back water retaining capacity, rainfed crops like minor millets, pulses like supply gram are vegeta bles of different types and citrus fruits house also be grown. These soils are also cognize as regurs, nullah regadi (a telugu record meaning black clay) and black cotton soils as cotton was the major crop grown in these soils.2. Red soils These soils are derived from granite, gneiss and other(a) metamorphic rocks. These soils are create under well drained condition. The climate is semi-arid tropical with mean annual temperature of 25C and mean annual rain from 75-100 cm. The soils are higher textured, friable structure and contains low soluble salts. They are slightly acidic to slightly alkaline, well drained with moderate permeability. They are loosely poor in nitrogen, phosphorus, caustic lime, humus etc. In this soil, lime concretions and free carbonates are absent. The red colour is receivable to the higher degree of hydration of the fericoxide in the soils. On uplands, they are petulant blonde or cussed and porous and light coloured on which nutrient crops like baj ra can be grown.On the cut back plains and vales, they are dark, coloured conceptive loams, irrigated crops like maize, wheat, pulses, potatoes, fruits, millets etc can be grown. These soils have also been found under forest vegetation. mosttimes they found along with black soils (side by side) and also yellowness soils (red and yellow soils). uppity gravelliness, surface crust formation and susceptibility to wearing due to high slopes are some of the problems in these soils which can be overcome by adopting adequate measures. Morphologically the red soils can be divided into red loams which have a cloddy structure and cloggy soil and red earths with loose friable elevation soil rich in sesquioxide type of minerals.3. Laterites and lateritic soils Laterite is a geological term and means literally a rock. The laterites and lateritic soils have been loosely used in the uniform sense. The lateritic soils are enriched with oxides of iron and aluminium, under the conditions of high rain with alternate dry and wet periods. During rainfall silica is leached passwards and iron and aluminium oxides remains in the top layers. Laterites are usually shallow and gravelly at higher lands, precisely are rattling deep loam to clay soils in the valleys where good rice paddy crops are produced. Higher landy soils are poor in nutrient status where as lower direct soils are dark and richer in nutrients and organic matter. entirely lateritic soils are poor in calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash.They are generally well drained and porous. The soil reaction is more on the acidic side. On laterites, as already mentioned, rice is grown at lower elevations and at higher elevations, tea, coffee, cinchona, rubber and cashewnut can be grown under good soil vigilance conditions. On the whole, laterites are poor in rankness and readily respond to manuring and good cultivation. Based on the climate lateritic soils are grouped into high rainfall areas with s trongly and weakly expressed dry pacify and humid zones with pronounced dry & wet periods.4. alluvial soils Alluvial soils, cover the largest area in India (approximately 7 lakh km2) and these are the most important soils from inelegant point of view. The main features of alluvial soils have been derived as silt bankion laid down by the Indian river systems like the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the rivers like Narmada, Tapti Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. These rivers carry the products of weathering of rocks constituting the mountains and deposit them along their path as they flow down the plain land towards the ocean. Geologically, the alluvial sediment is divided into juvenile deluge which is known as Khadar and old alluvium, as bhangar. The newer alluvium is sandy and light coloured whereas old(a) alluvium is more clayey, dark coloured and contains lime concretions. The soils have a wide range in soil characteristics viz. acid to alkaline sandy to clay, normal to saline, sodic and calcareous, shallow to very deep. The climate ranges from arid to humid sub-tropical. The following groupings of alluvial soils may be recognised alluvial soils (Khadar, bhangar and highly calcareous), deltaic alluvium, coastal alluvium, coastal sands, calcareous sierocomic and grey- brownish soils.a. Alluvial soils The alluvial soils occuring in the Indo-Gangetic plains and the Brahmaputra valley cover a large area. The soils are transported and deposited by the rivers from the parent material. The rivers are the Ganga, Jamuna, Brahmaputra and their tributaries. The soils are deep and toilsome pans in the subsoil are calcareous (made of calcium carbonate) and acidic. These are deficient in nitrogen, phosphorous and humus, but not in potash and lime. These soils are fertile amongst all the soils of India. They produce a wide configuration of crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane, jute and potato. They are distributed mainly in the northern, north-western a nd north-eastern separate of our country.b. Deltaic alluvial soils They are formed from sediments carried by rivers and deposited in the mouths of rivers joining the sea. The deltas of the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery are the most important ones. In Gujarat, the deltaic alluvial soils which are sandy loam to clay loam are locally called Goradu soils. The Godavari and Krishna rivers pass through basaltic neighborhood having black soils and these soils are dark and very well textured. The Cauvery delta soils are materially clayey and Ganga delta soils show high accretion of organic matter, as in the Sunderbans of West Bengal, due to swampy vegetation. These soils are fertile and grow a wide variety of crops suited to climatic conditions.c. coastal alluvium Soils developed on coastal alluvium are found along, the sea coasts. Soils are dark coloured, coarse textured and poor in fertility. Some soils are saline due to the inundation of sea water. Such so ils in the Konkan coast of Maharashtra are called Khar soils.d. coastal sands Sandy soils occur prominently in the coastal area of Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, along the Kerala coast, Bapatla in Guntur distrjct of Andhra Pradesh and Puri district in Orissa. If sandy soils are not saline, plantation crops like coconut, cashew and casuarina can be taken up for cultivation.Other soils under alluvium are calcareous sierozomes and grey brown soils. Calcareous sierozomes can be seen in the emptyic share of Haryana and Punjab. The word sierozem denotes a group of soils having a brownish-grey surface horizon with a sub-layer of carbonates which is developed under merge shrub vegetation in a-temperate to cool, arid climate. Grey-brown soils as the name itself indicates its nature, can be found in, desert soils of Rajasthan.5. Desert soils In the north-western part of India, desert soils occur over an area of 0.29 million hecta,res, which includes a major part of Rajasthan, south of Ha ryana and Punjab and northern part of Gujarat. pelting ranges from less than 10 cms to 50 cms, mostly contributed during monsoon season. The vicinity consists of sand dunes and undulating sandy plains. The temperature regime is very high throughout the year and a maximum of 50-60C is recorded during summer. Due to high temperature organic-matter built up is very low. The soils in the plains are mostly derived from alluvium and are pale brown to brown to yellow brown and fine sandy to loamy fine sand and are structureless. The clay contents low and presence of alkaline earth carbonates is an important feature. The nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus makes the desert soils fertile and copious under proper moisture supply. By change magnitude the water holding capacity, the productivity of the soils can be increased which involves addition of organic matter and clay.6. Tarai soils The word tarai is a hindi word, which means moist. Thus, i is a wet regime having high water table. Tarai soils are foot hii soils and extend in strips of varying widths at the foot of Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar and West-Bengal. Soils under the natural conditions are thickly vegetated and swampy. Several types of grasses and trees from the native vegetation on removal of which the soils become highly productive. The soils are formed from the materials that are washed down by the erosion of mountains. They are alluvial origin. High soil moisture content all through the year results in luxuriant vegetation dominated by tall-growing grasses. They are neutral to slightly alkaline with significant amounts of organic matter. The texture varies from sandy loam to silty loam. Generally, these soils are fertile and by providing proper drainage, the productivity can be increased.