Soil Characterization in Relation to Forest Vegetation in the Wet Temperate Zone of Himachal Pradesh

Soil formation in relation to forest vegetation in the wet temperate zone of Himachal Pradesh has been studied. The results show that the organic carbon and total nitrogen contents in the surface horizons of forest soils increased with increase in altitude (13.7 to 53.4 and 0.9 to 3.6 g kg⁻¹, respectively), while the cultivated soils of Palampur and Ahju contained lower amounts of these constituents. Illuviation of clay and sesquioxides had taken place in the B horizons of all the soils. Base saturation percentage in the surface horizons of all the profiles varied from 45.5 to 66.8, while the range in pH was from 5.0 to 5.9. As the clay illuviation was more pronounced in the profiles from Darang, Palampur, Ahju and Kalatop, these soils appeared to be more developed than the soils of Bir and Dalhousie.