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Soils of India Table

A compact, tabular revision of the major soil types of India, where they occur, their properties and the crops they suit, for CAPF Paper I geography

CAPF wiki•2 min read•4 sections

At a glance

SubjectGeography

RevisionGeographySoilsAgriculturePaper 1

Cover the right columns and recall region and crops. CAPF tests soil type to region and soil to crop matching. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research classifies Indian soils into eight major groups. For crops see crops and producing states.

Major soil types

Soil	Where found	Properties	Suited crops
Alluvial	Northern plains, deltas, coastal strips	Most fertile and widespread; rich in potash, poor in nitrogen	Wheat, rice, sugarcane, pulses
Black (regur)	Deccan trap (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh)	Moisture-retentive, clayey, rich in iron and lime; cracks when dry	Cotton (so called "black cotton soil"), pulses
Red	Eastern and southern Deccan, Tamil Nadu	Reddish from iron oxide; poor in nitrogen and humus	Millets, groundnut, pulses (with fertiliser)
Laterite	Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, hilly humid areas	Leached, acidic, low fertility; used as brick	Tea, coffee, cashew, rubber
Arid (desert)	Rajasthan, parts of Gujarat	Sandy, saline, low humus, low moisture	Drought-resistant crops with irrigation
Mountain / forest	Himalayan slopes	Varies with altitude; rich in humus in forests	Tea, coffee, spices, orchards
Saline and alkaline (Usar)	Arid and waterlogged tracts	Excess salts; infertile until reclaimed	Reclamation needed before cultivation
Peaty and marshy	Kerala backwaters, coastal Odisha, deltas	High organic matter, acidic, waterlogged	Rice (where drained)

Soil colour and cause (quick map)

Colour	Cause
Black	Lava-derived clays of the Deccan trap
Red	Iron oxide in crystalline and metamorphic rock
Yellow / red	Hydration of iron oxide in humid areas

Quick-recall facts

Fact	Answer
Most widespread and fertile soil	Alluvial
Soil best for cotton	Black (regur)
Soil used to make bricks	Laterite
Soil formed by river deposition	Alluvial
Soil of the Deccan plateau	Black
Soil needing reclamation due to salts	Saline / alkaline (Usar)
Body that classifies Indian soils	Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

Cross-references

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