Question

What are the features of forest or mountain soil?

Answer 1

Hint: The soils are formed by weathering caused by rain, snow and temperature variations. Forest soils or mountain soils contribute about 8.67 percent of the total land area of India, which is approximately 2.85 lakh sq km.

Complete Step by Step Answer: Environmental factors play an important role in the formation of soil. Those are parental materials, climate vegetation, relief and drainage. Apart from the environmental factors, human beings also contribute considerably to the formation of soil. The major classification of the Indian Soils is
1. Alluvial soil
2. Black or regur soil
3. Red soil
4. Desert or arid soil
5. Laterite Soil
6. Saline soil
7. Marshy or peaty soil
8. Forest or mountain soil
9. Sub-mountain soil
10. Snowfields
The features of forest or mountain soil are as follows
- Forest or mountain soil develop in the areas of sufficient rainfall.
- The structure and texture of the soils depend on the mountain environment where they are formed.
- In the snow bound areas of the Himalayas, they experience denudation and are acidic.
- They are loamy and silty on valley sides and coarse grained on the up slopes.
- They have high humus content but are deficient in phosphorus, potash and lime.
- Mostly, the soil of the lower valleys is fertile.
- In the snow-covered areas, the soil is acidic with low humus content.

Note: The common physical properties of forest or mountain soil are texture, structure, density, porosity, temperature, aeration, movement and water retention. These properties of forest soils affect every aspect of productivity and soil fertility.