Soil Resources — Part 1: The major soils of India: visual lesson, ICSE Class 10 Geography (H.C.G. Paper 2)

Lesson

The ground beneath the crops

Part 1 — a wheat field in Punjab, a cotton field near Akola, a groundnut plot near Anantapur and a cashew orchard in Goa all stand on different soils. Four soil groups cover most of India.

In this lesson you will

Distinguish khadar from bhangar and name the crops of alluvial soil
Explain how black soil forms from lava and why it suits cotton
Explain the colour of red soil and the leaching that forms laterite
Compare red and laterite soils by texture, fertility and crops

Table of the four main soil groups of India with a region and a crop for each
Soil	Typical region	Typical crop
Alluvial	Northern plains, deltas	Wheat, rice, sugarcane
Black (regur)	Deccan lava plateau	Cotton
Red	Old crystalline plateau	Millets, groundnut
Laterite	Heavy-rain hill tops	Cashew, tea, coffee

Concept

What soil is and how it forms

Soil is the thin, loose top layer of the land, made of weathered rock particles, humus (decayed plant and animal matter), water and air. It forms very slowly as parent rock is broken down by weathering and mixed with organic matter. Its type depends on the parent rock, climate (rain and temperature), relief, vegetation and time. A vertical section through soil, the soil profile, shows layers called horizons.

Concept

Alluvial soil: formation and distribution

Formation: deposited by rivers — the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra systems in the north, and the east-coast rivers in their deltas. Distribution: the largest soil group, covering roughly two-fifths of India: the Punjab–Haryana plain, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, the Brahmaputra valley, and the deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. Composition: sand, silt and clay; generally rich in potash and lime, but poor in nitrogen and humus. Texture is coarse near the foothills and finer (more clayey) down-river and in the deltas.

Table of the formation, distribution, composition and crops of alluvial soil
Feature	Alluvial soil
Formed by	River deposits
Found in	Northern plains, river deltas, coastal plains
Rich in	Potash, lime
Poor in	Nitrogen, humus
Crops	Wheat, rice, sugarcane, jute, pulses, oilseeds

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