Soils of India:

Classification and
Characteristics
Soil Classification –
Agencies involved
In the modern period, when men started to know about the
various characteristics of soil they began to classify soil on the
basis of texture, colour, moisture etc.

When the Soil survey of India was established in 1956, they

studied soils of India and their characteristics.

The National Bureau of Soil Survey and the Land Use Planning,
an institute under the control of Indian Council of Agriculture
Research did a lot of studies on Indian soil.
Major
classification of
Indian soils
Alluvial soil [43%]
Red soil [18.5%]
Black / regur soil [15%]
Arid / desert soil
Laterite soil
Saline soil
Peaty / marshy soil
Forest soil
Sub-mountain soil
Snowfields
•Alluvial soil:
Mostly available soil in India (about 43%) which covers an area of 143 sq.km.

Widespread in northern plains and river valleys.

In peninsular-India, they are mostly found in deltas and estuaries.

Humus, lime and organic matters are present.

Highly fertile.

Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputhra plain, Narmada-Tapi plain etc are examples.

They are depositional soil – transported and deposited by rivers, streams etc.
​
Sand content decreases from west to east of the country.​
New alluvium is termed as Khadar and old alluvium is termed as Bhangar.​
Colour: Light Grey to Ash Grey.​
Texture: Sandy to silty loam or clay.​
Rich in: potash​
Poor in: phosphorous.​
Wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane, pulses, oilseed etc are cultivated mainly.​
Distribution of Alluvial Soils in India

•They occur all along the Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra plains except in few

places where the top layer is covered by desert sand.

•They also occur in deltas of the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, and
the Cauvery, where they are called deltaic alluvium (coastal alluvium)

•Some alluvial soils are found in the Narmada, Tapi valleys, and Northern parts of
Gujarat.
Geological divisions of alluvial soils
Bhabar
•The bhabar belt is about 8-16 km wide running along the Shiwalik foothills. It is a porous, northern most stretch
of Indo-Gangetic plain.

•Rivers descending from the Himalayas deposit their load along the foothills in the form of alluvial fans. These
alluvial fans (often pebbly soils) have merged together to build up the bhabar belt.

•The porosity of bhabar is the most unique feature. The porosity is due to deposition of huge number of pebbles
and rock debris across the alluvial fans.

•The streams disappear once they reach the bhabar region because of this porosity. Therefore, the area is marked
by dry river courses except in the rainy season.

•The area is not suitable for agriculture and only big trees with large roots thrive in this belt.
Terai
•Terai is an ill-drained, damp (marshy) and thickly forested narrow tract (15-
30 km wide) to the south of Bhabar running parallel to it.
•The underground streams of the Bhabar belt re-emerge in this belt. It is a
swampy lowland with silty soils.
•The terai soils are rich in nitrogen and organic matter but are deficient in
phosphate.
•These soils are generally covered by tall grasses and forests but are suitable for a
number of crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane, jute, etc.
•This thickly forested region provides shelter to a variety of wildlife.
Bhangar
•The Bhangar is the older alluvium along the river beds forming terraces higher than the flood plain
(about 30 meters above the flood level).
•It is of a more clayey composition and is generally dark-colored.
•A few meters below the terrace of the bhangar are beds of lime nodules known as “Kankar”.

Khadar
•The Khadar is composed of newer alluvium and forms the flood plains along the river banks.
•The banks are flooded almost every year and a new layer of alluvium is deposited with every flood. This
makes them the most fertile soils of the Ganges.
•They are sandy clays and loams, drier and leached, less calcareous and carbonaceous (less kankary). A
new layer of alluvium is deposited by river floods almost every year.
•Red and Yellow soil:
Seen mainly on crystalline igneous rocks in low rainfall area For instance, Eastern and Southern
parts of Deccan plateau.
Also known as Omnibus group.

Porous, friable structure.

Absence of lime, kankar (impure calcium carbonate).

Deficient in: lime, phosphate, manganese, nitrogen, humus

Colour: Due to the wide diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks, they are reddish.
they look yellow in appearance when occurring in hydrated from
Texture: Sandy to clay and loamy.

They are mostly cultivated during the rainy season Wheat, cotton, pulses, tobacco, oilseeds, potato
etc are cultivated
 •Rich in iron and potash but deficient in other minerals .

Distribution of Red Soils

They are mainly found in the Peninsula from Tamil Nadu in the south to Bundelkhand in the north and Raj
Mahal in the east to Kathiawad in the west.

Significance
•Once irrigated and added with humus, it gives a high yield because the mineral base is rich.
•It supports rice, sugarcane, cotton cultivation
•Millets and pulses are grown in drier areas
•Kaveri and Vaigai basins are famous for red alluvium and if irrigated well, are suitable for paddy
•Large regions of Karnataka and Kerala have developed Red soil regions for rubber and coffee plantation farming.
Black soil /
regur soil:
Black Soils

•Formation –formed due to weathering of these basaltic rocks

•The parent material for most of the black soil are the volcanic rocks that were formed in the Deccan
Plateau (Deccan and the Rajmahal trap).

•In Tamil Nadu, gneisses and schists form the parent material. The former are sufficiently deep while
the later are generally shallow.
Characteristics of Black Soils
•The black soil is highly retentive of moisture. It swells greatly on accumulating moisture.
Strenuous effort is required to work on such soil in rainy season as it gets very sticky.

•In summer, the moisture evaporates the soil shrinks and is seamed with broad and deep cracks. The
lower layers can still retain moisture. The cracks permits oxygenation of the soil to sufficient depths
and the soil has extraordinary fertility.

•When dry, it develops cracks and has blocky structure. (Self Ploughing Capacity)
Distribution of Black Soils
•It is found in the Deccan lava plateau region of India.
•Spread over 46 lakh sq km (16.6 percent of the total area)
across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, parts of Karnataka, Telangana,
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.

Crops in Black Soils

•These soils are best suited for cotton crops. Hence these soils are called
as regur and black cotton soils.
•Other major crops grown on the black soils include wheat, jowar, linseed,
virginia tobacco, castor, sunflower, and millets.
•Rice and sugarcane are equally important where irrigation facilities are
available.
•Laterite soil:
•Name from Latin word ‘Later’ which means Brick.
•Become so soft when wet and so hard when dried.
•In the areas of high temperature and high rainfall.
•Formed as a result of high leaching.
•Lime and silica will be leached away from the soil.
•Organic matters of the soil will be removed fast by the bacteria as it is high
temperature and humus will be taken quickly by the trees and other plants.
Thus, humus content is low.
•Rich in: Iron and Aluminum
•Deficient in: Nitrogen, Potash, Potassium, Lime, Humus
•Colour: Red colour due to iron oxide.
•Rice, Ragi, Sugarcane and Cashew nuts are cultivated mainly.
•Desert / arid soil:
•Seen under Arid and Semi-Arid conditions.

•Deposited mainly by wind activities.

•High salt content.

•Lack of moisture and Humus.

•Kankar or Impure Calcium carbonate content is high which restricts the

infiltration of water.

•Nitrogen is insufficient and Phosphate is normal.

•Texture: Sandy
•Colour: Red to Brown.
Peaty / marshy soil:
•Areas of heavy rainfall and high humidity.
•Growth of vegetation is very less.
•A large quantity of dead organic matter/humus which makes the soil alkaline.
•Heavy soil with black colour.

Forest soil:
•Regions of high rainfall.

Mountain soil:
•In the mountain regions of the country.
Different soil types in India: Understand
the differences using an Easy-to-Learn
Table
 States where
Types of Soils Rich in: Lacks in: Crops grown
found

Large variety
Mainly found in of rabi and
the plains of kharif crops
Gujarat, Punjab, Potash and Nitrogen and such as
Alluvial
Haryana, UP, Lime Phosphorous wheat, rice,
Bihar, Jharkhand sugarcane,
etc. cotton, jute
etc.
Deccan plateau-
Maharashtra, Cotton,
Lime, Iron,
Madhya Pradesh, Phosphorous, sugarcane,
Magnesia
Gujarat, Andhra Nitrogen and jowar,
and
Pradesh,Tamil organic tobacco,
Alumina,
Nadu, Valleys of matter wheat, rice
Potash
Krishna and etc.
Godavari.
 Eastern and
southern
part of the
deccan Wheat,
Nitrogen,
plateau, rice,
Iron and Phosphoro
Red Orissa, cotton,
Potash us and
Chattisgarh sugarcane
humus.
and southern and pulses
parts of the
middle
Ganga plain.
 Karnataka,
Organic
Kerala,
Iron matter, Cashewnu
Tamilnadu,
oxide Nitrogen, ts, tea,
Laterite Madhya
and Phosphate coffee,
Pradesh,
potash and rubber
Assam and
Calcium
Orissa hills.
 Only
drought
resistant
Western and salt
Rajastan, Soluble tolerant
Arid and Humus,
north Gujarat salts, crops such
Desert Nitrogen
and southern phosphate as barley,
Punjab rape, cotton,
millets
maize and
pulses
 Western
Gujarat,
deltas of
eastern Sodium,
Saline coast, Potassiu Nitrogen Unfit for
and Sunderban m, and agricult
Alkaline areas of Magnesi Calcium ure
West um
Bengal,
Punjab and
Haryana