Question

Observe the picture of ex-situ soil given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Identify the types of soil marked as A and B.
2. Which of the two, A or B, is more fertile and why?

Answer 1

1. • A is the floodplain (new alluvium or khadar).
   • B is the river terrace/older alluvium (bhangar).
2. Soil A (Khadar) is more fertile than Soil B (Bhangar) because it is the new alluvium discovered in the low-lying floodplains. Being closer to the river, it is refreshed on a yearly basis by fresh deposits of fine silt, clay, and sand brought down by the river during monsoon floods, which act as natural manure. In contrast, Bhangar is the old alluvium found on higher terraces beyond the reach of annual floods; it is older, more clayey, and includes larger concentrations of kankar (calcareous nodules), reducing its fertility when compared to the finer, nutrient-rich Khadar.