SSC CGL Study Materials - Soils of India

sponsored links

Friends, this is the Fourth Lesson in our SSC CGL Geography study materials series. Read previous lessons from below before reading this lesson. All the Best :)

• Lesson 1 : The Locational and Spatial Setting of India
• Lesson 2 : Physical Features - Relief and Drainage
• Lesson 3 : Climate

• Soil Erosion  : Washing away of the fine and fertile top most layer of the soil cover.
• Forms of Soil Erosion 
1. Sheet
2. Rill
3. Gully erosion
• Serious constraint on red soil : Sheet erosion
• Sand - dunes are formed by : WInd erosion
• Major consequences of soil erosion : Desertification and heavy siltation
  
• Countour bunding : Soil Conservation
• Tribal People : Jhumming or shifting cultivation
• Average erosion of fine soil per hectare in India : 16.4 tonnes
• The older alluvimu soil : Bhangar
• The new / younger alluvium soil : Khadar
• Alluvial Soils : Formed by river systems through deposition of fine grained sediments.
• Bhangar : More clayey and darker colour
• Khadar : Sandy in texture and light colour.
• Black / Regular / Chernozems soils : Most clayey and moisture retentive capacity.
• Red Soils : 
• Derived from weathering of crystalline and metamorphic rocks.
• Absence of lime, kankar, and free carbonates.
• Loamy (fertile) in deep depressions.
• Laterite Soils : Very poor in fertility
• Mountain Soils : Immature soils
• Desert Soils : Formed under arid and semi-arid conditions.
• Cotton : The most suitable crop of black soils or regular soils or chernozems.

Synopsis  :

Types of Soils :

• Alluvial Soils : These soils are formed by river systems through deposition of fine grained sediments rich in lime and potash, deficit in Nitrogen and organic content.
• Bhangar (Older Alluvium)
• Khadar (Newer Alluvium)
• Black Cotton (or) Regular Soils : Black soils have developed over Deccan Lavas, Gneisses and Granites under semi-arid conditions. Tropical chernozems with deep black colour.
• Red Soils : Derived from weathering of crystalline and metamorphic rocks. Absence of lime, kankar and free carbonates. 
• Laterite Soils : It leads to the leaching away of the much of silica from the original rock. These soils are composed of a mixture of hydrated oxides of aluminum and Iron. 
• Mountain Soils : These are immature soils. Usually deficient in nitrogen, phosphorous and humus.
• Desert Soils : These soils are formed under arid conditions. They include wind blow loess formations. Rich in phosphate content but poor in nitrogen. 

Types of Soil Erosion :

• Sheet erosion : (Weathering Process in the form of layers). This erosion is common in the heavy rainfall areas of Shiwaliks, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Assom and North Eastern parts of Peninsula.
• Rill erosion : Finger shaped grooves (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc.)
• Gullies : Rill may deeper and enlarge. (Banks of the Yamuna, the Chambal and the Mai River)

 sponsored links