Soil Types
Soil Types
- Soil is the topmost layer of the continental crust having weathered particles of rocks.
- Soil can be simply defined as a mixture of small rock particles (debris) and organic materials (humus), which develop on the earth’s
surface and support the growth of plants.
1. Alluvial Soil
2. Black Soil
3. Red Soil
4. Laterite Soil
5. Forest and Mountain Soil
6. Arid and Desert Soil
7. Saline and Alkaline Soil
8. Peaty and Marshy Soil
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Distribution of Soil
S.No. Types of Soil States where found Rich in Lacks in Crops grown
1 Alluvial Soil Mainly found in the plains of Potash and Lime Nitrogen and Large variety of rabi and kharif
Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Phosphorous crops such as wheat, rice,
UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, etc. sugarcane, cotton, jute, etc.
2 Black Soil (Regur Soil) Deccan Plateau: Lime, Iron, Phosphorous, Cotton, sugarcane, jowar,
Maharashtra, Madhya Magnesia, Nitrogen and organic tobacco, wheat, rice, etc.
Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Alumina, and matter
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, the Potash
Valleys of Krishna, and
Godavari.
3 Red Soil Eastern and southern parts Iron and Potash Nitrogen, Wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane,
of the Deccan plateau, Phosphorous and and pulses
Orissa, Chhattisgarh, and humus.
southern parts of the middle
Ganga plain.
4 Laterite Soil Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Iron oxide and Organic matter, Cashew nuts, tea, coffee,
Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, potash Nitrogen, Phosphate rubber
Assam, and Orissa hills. and Calcium
5 Arid and Desert Soil Western Rajasthan, north Soluble salts, Humus, Nitrogen Only drought-resistant and
Gujarat, and southern phosphate salt-tolerant crops such as
Punjab barley, rapeseed, cotton,
millets, maize, and pulses
6 Saline and Alkaline Soil Western Gujarat, the deltas Sodium, Nitrogen and Unfit for agriculture
of the eastern coast, and the Potassium, and Calcium
Sundarban areas of West Magnesium
Bengal, Punjab, and Haryana
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