Factors affecting soil formation

Published on 31 Jan 2025

• Parent material: Determines colouration mineral composition and texture of the soil.  

• Example: Soil formed from granite, gneiss and schists are  ferromagnetic in nature and have red colour.   

• Topography: Influenced by the degree of slope,presence of clay and organic matters, etc 

• Example: Chambal ravines : barren slop leads to high erosion and less percolation 

• Climate: Temperature, availability of rainfall etc influencing effectiveness of weathering of parent material composition, percolation etc.  

• Moisture: Crystalline granite produce laterite soil in moist regions and non laterite soil in drier areas

• Temperature: High eveporation making soil excess in lime content over Rajasthan region

• Biological activity: Depends upon the microbial other biological factors.  

• Example: Cold temperature results in low microbial activity thus presence of high humus content 

• Time: Soil profile becomes mature when all the soil forming process act for a sufficiently long time. 

Tags:
Geography

Keywords:
Factors affecting soil formation soil

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 1

Topics:
Physical Geography