Alluvial Soils

Alluvial Soils Essentially transformed soils, they form the most important and largest of all the soil groups. These soils, unlike those of the other types, have undergone very little pedogenic (soil formation) evolution since their deposition. The alluvium is of two types-the khadar and the bhanger. The khadar is light in colour, more siliceous in composition and composed of newer deposits while the bhanger or the older alluvium is composed of lime nodules (kankar) and has a clayey composition. It is dark in colour, Verti­cally, there is no clear differentiation between the alluvium types and the profile often lacks' strati­fication. Alluvial soils vary in different regions owing to factors like climate, vegetation and surface conditions. Alluvial soils are generally deficient in nitrogen and humus.

Alluvial soils are found throughout the plains of northern India. In the Indian Peninsula, they are confined mainly to the river deltas on the east coast, the lower valleys of the Narmada and the Tapti, northern Gujarat and Chhattisgarh plains, They occupy 7.71akh sq km or about 24 per cent of India's land area. The soils are suitable for the cultivation of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and vegetables. These favour jute cultivation in the eastern parts -of the Indian plains.