SSC CGL Study Materials - Soils of India

Friends, this is the Lesson in our SSC CGL Geography

study

materials series. Read previous lessons from below before reading this lesson. All the Best :)

• 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)