The vast size of India, along with the diversity in the natural environment of its various parts gives rise to a vast variety in the soil cover. As we have already described, the formation of different types of soils are mainly dependent on the nature of parent material, climate, general topography of the particular region and activity of organisms.
These factors vary in their degree of operation from one place to the other and thus result a number of soil types in India. While the soils in the Extra-penisular and Indo-Gangentic plains are quite young, those in the Peninsular parts are old and highly matured.
The major soil types in India have been recognized as follows:-
– Alluvial soils, which are well developed in the Indo-Gangetic plains as well as in the coastal deltaic regions
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– Regur or black cotton soil, which are concentrated over the Deccan Lava tract that includes parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujurat, Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Tamil Nadu. It is highly fertile.
– Red soils are due to a wide diffusion of iron in ancient crystalline and metamorphic rocks. Red soils cover almost the whole of Tamil Nadu, Kamataka, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and eastern parts of Madhya Pradesh and south-eastern part of Maharashtra.
– Lateritic soils are commonly found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and the hilly areas of Orissa and Assam.
Desert soils are found in Rajsthan.
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Apart from the above types, the soils ii the mountainous regions of the country also form a significant kind of soil of India.