Studies on the Tungabhadra Catchment Soils II. Physico-Chemical Properties and Soil Taxonomy

The physico-chemical characteristics reveal that the processes of eluviation and illuviation have been of little avail in the development of these soils. The basic schistic rocks with their readily weatherable ferromangnesian minerals have given rise to heavy textured smectitic soils in an atmosphere saturated with divalent cations. The soils derived from granite-gneiss and banded haematite quartzite are coarse textured and illitic in nature. The alluvial and black soils could be classified as Inceptisols whereas the red soils represented Alfisols.