what are the two broad classification of soil
Answers
Major types and characteristics of soils in India:
Indian soils may be divided into six major types based on their character and origin:
1. Alluvial soil: Materials deposited by rivers, winds, glaciers and sea waves are called alluvium and soils made up of alluvium are alluvial soils. In India alluvial soils are mainly found on the Indo-Ganga Brahmaputra Plains, Coastal Plains and the broad river valleys of South India. They are also found along the river basins of some plateau and mountain regions.
In the Indo-Ganga plain two other types of alluvium are found. The old alluviums are clayey and sticky, have a darker color, contain nodules of lime concretions and are found to lie on slightly elevated lands. The new alluviums are lighter in color and occur in the deltas and the flood plains.
In comparison to old alluvial soil, the new alluvial soils are very fertile. The alluvial soil is regarded as the best soil of India for its high fertility and the rich harvest, it gives rice, wheat, sugarcane, jute oil-seeds and pulses are the main crops grown on this soil.
2. Laterite and Lateritic soils: Laterite is a kind of clayey rock or soil formed under high temperature and high rainfall. By further modification laterite is converted into red colored lateritic soils charged with iron nodules. Laterite and lateritic soils are found in South Maharashtra, the Western Ghats in Kerala and Karnataka, at places on the Eastern Ghat, in some parts of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and in western West Bengal (particularly in Birbhum district). These soils are generally infertile. Some plants like tea, coffee, coconut, areca nut, etc. are grown in this soil.
3. Red Soils: Red soils develop on granite and geneses rocks under low rainfall condition. The dissemination of red oxides of iron gives the characteristic red color of the soil. These soils are friable and medium fertile and found mainly in almost whole of Tamil Nadu, South-eastern Karnataka, North-eastern and South-eastern Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand the major parts of Orissa, and the Hills and Plateaus of North-east India. But these have capacity to grow good crops after taking help of irrigation and fertilizers. Wheat, rice, millets, gram, pulses, oil-seeds and cotton are cultivated here.
4. Black Soils or Regur soils: The regur or black soils have developed extensively upon the Lava Plateaus of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh mainly Malwa. Black soils have also developed on gneisses of north Karnataka and north and west of Andhra Pradesh. The regur is clayey, becomes very sticky when wet. Its special merit lies in its water holding capacity. These soils are very fertile and contain a high percentage of lime and a moderate amount of potash. The type of soil is specially suited to the cultivation of cotton and hence sometimes called ‘black cotton soil.’ Sugarcane, wheat, and groundnut are also cultivated.
5. Desert soil: The soils of Rajasthan, Haryana and the South Punjab are sandy. In the absence of sufficient wash by rain water soils have become saline and rather unfit for cultivation. In spite of that cultivation can be carried on with the help of modern irrigation. Wheat, bajra, groundnut, etc. can be grown in this soil.
This soil type is more gritty and feels more like sand. It usually drains well but does not contain so many nutrients as other types of soil. It can also shift and blow away with the wind, too, unlike clayey soil which tends to clump together in one place. This is because sandy soil is one of the lightest types of soil.
6. Mountain soil: Soils are varied in mountains. Alluvium is found at the valley floor, brown soil, rich in organic matter, in an altitudinal zone lying between about 700-1800 m. Further up podzol soils, grey in color and acidic in reaction, are found associated with coniferous vegetation. In the Alpine forest belts the soils are thin and darker in color. This type of soil is suitable for the cultivation of potatoes, fruits, tea coffee and spices and wheat.
Hope this may help u......
Answer:
The two broad classification with their information are:-
1. Sedentary soils - These are also known as the residual soil. They occur directly on top of the parent rock. These are the residues left as insitu after weathering followed by transportation and consist of the insoluble products of rock weathering, which have escaped distribution through transporting agencies and which still mantle the rock from which they have been derived.
2. Transported soils- These are also known as drifted soils and this category of soil includes all those soils that have been deposited at places far from the parent rocks after being transported by the geologic agents. On the basis of the transporting agencies involved, these soils are classified as follows-
- Colluvial soils
- Alluvial Soils
- Glacial Soils
- Aeolian soils
- Lacustrine soils
3. Apart from the above important types of soil, there are sandy, coarse-grained soils formed from the sediments deposited in the coastal regions or on continental-shelf area, which constitute the marine soils