Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4
3.4.1
Section 3: Chapter 4: Physical Factors (Soil types) Soil is one of the most important natural resource. It is indispensable for the existence of plants and animals. Most soil forming material is derived from the disintegration of rocks by a process known as weathering. This process involves a combination of mechanical agents such as expansion and contraction, and chemical reactions such as solution. Besides various biological processes which are
driven by microbes and plants play an important role in soil formation. Soils of India are classified based on their colour, structure and place where they are found. Himachal Pradesh is present in the mountainous region and it is well drained by a wide range of seasonal and perennial rivers. These rivers carry a lot of silt and deposit the alluvium on the banks. As a result, the soil types vary in Himachal Pradesh.
The soil types which are present in our project area are: Sr No 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Soil types
Unit
Rock outcrops covered with glaciers: associated with: Shallow, excessively drained, sandy skeletal soils with sandy surface, severe erosion and strong stoniness.
1
Shallow, excessively drained, sandy skeletal soils on very steep slopes with sandy surface, severe erosion and moderate stoniness, associated with: Rock outcrops.
2
Mountain & valley glaciers & rock outcrops; associated with; medium deep, excessively drained, sandy-skeletal soil on very steep slopes with sandy surface, severe erosion & moderate stoniness.
5
Rock outcrops associated with medium deep excessively drained, loamyskeletal soils on very steep slopes with loamy surface, severe erosion and moderate stoniness.
8
Rock outcrops associated with deep, excessively drained, sandy-skeletal soils with loamy surface, very severe erosion and moderate stoniness.
16
Shallow, somewhat excessively drained, mesic, coarse-loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and severe drained, fine-loamy soils with loamy surface and severe erosion.
27
Rock outcrops associated with, Medium deep, excessively drained, mesic loamy-skeletal soils on very steep slopes with loamy surface, severe erosion and moderate stoniness.
29
Deep. Excessively drained, mesic. Loamy. Skeletal soils on very steep slopes with loamy surface. severe erosion and moderate stoniness associated with Rock outcrops
31
Rock outcrops, associated with Medium deep, somewhat excessively drained, mesic, sandy soils on steep slopes with sandy surface and severe erosion.
32
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin
Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4 Sr No 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
3.4.2
Soil types
Unit
Medium deep, somewhat excessively drained, mesic, coarse-loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface, severe erosion and slight stoniness associated with Shallow, somewhat excessively drained, coarseloamy soils with loamy surface, severe erosion and slight stoniness.
34
Shallow, excessively drained. Thermic, sandy-skeletal soils on steep slopes with loamy surface, very severe erosion and strong stoniness, associated with, Rock outcrops.
36
Shallow, somewhat excessively drained, thermic, loamy-skeletal soils on moderately steep slopes with loamy surface. Severe erosion and strong stoniness, associated erosion and strong stoniness, associated with Rock outcrops.
37
Shallow, well drained, thermic. loamy, skeletal soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface, moderate erosion and moderate stoniness, associated with Shallow, somewhat excessively drained, coarse-loamy soils with loamy surface, severe erosion and severe erosion and slight stoniness.
43
Medium deep well drained, thermic. Fine loamy calcareous soils on moderately steep slop16es with loamy surface and severe erosion, associated with, Medium deep, well drained, fine-loamy soils with loamy surface and moderate erosion.
48
Medium deep, well drained, thermic, fine loamy soils on moderately steep slopes with loamy surface, severe erosion and slight stoniness, associated with Shallow, well drained, fine-loamy soils with loamy surface and moderate erosion.
49
Medium deep to deep, well drained, thermic. Fine-loamy soils on steep slopes with loamy surface and moderate erosion, associated with medium deep, well drained, coarse-loamy soils with loamy surface and severe erosion.
54
Deep, well drained, thermic, fine-loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and moderate erosion, associated with Medium deep, well drained. Loamy-skeletal soils with loamy surface and severe erosion.
55
Medium deep, well drained, thermic, fine loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface, severe erosion and slight stoniness, associated with Medium deep. Somewhat excessively drained, coarse-loamy soils with loamy surface and severe erosion.
57
Medium deep, well drained, thermic, fine- loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and severe erosion, associated Shallow, well drained, coarse-loamy soils with loamy surface, severe erosion and slight stoniness.
60
Medium deep well drained thermic, coarse-Ioamv soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and moderate erosion associated with Shallow. Excessively drained. Coarse-loamy. Calcareous soils with loamy surface and moderate erosion.
64
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin
Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4 Sr No 21
22
23
24
3.4.3
Soil types
Unit
Medium deep to deep, well drained, thermic, loamy-skeletal soils on steep slopes with loamy surface and severe erosion associated with Medium deep well drained, calcareous, fine-loamy soils with loamy surface and moderate erosion.
72
Medium deep. Well drained. Thermic. Loamy. Skeletal soils on very gentle slopes with loamy surface. Moderate erosion and moderate stoniness, associated with Deep. Well drained fine-loamy soils with loamy surface and slight erosion.
75
Medium deep, well drained, thermic, fine-loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and moderate erosion associated with Medium deep well drained coarse-loamy soils with loamy surface and moderate erosion.
83
Deep, moderately well drained, hyperthermic, fine-loamy soils on moderate slopes with loamy surface and moderate erosion, associated with Medium deep, somewhat excessively drained, sandy soils with loamy surface, severe erosion and moderate stoniness.
86
Note: Units are assigned to the soil types so as to facilitate short and simple representation of the soil types which are descriptive in nature. Henceforth these units will be used as names of the Soil types for convenience sake.
Our project area has about 24 different types of soils. The map given below is for representational purpose and has Sub catchment boundary evident along with the soil layers:
Map
showing
the
distribution
of
soil
types
of
the
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin
Satluj
catchment
Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4
3.4.4
From the map it is evident that the distribution of soil types in the Project area varies greatly. Hence it is convenient to refer the SCIS for better understanding of the soil types in each sub-catchment of micro-watershed.
Meanwhile we can understand the soil type from following graph
Rainfall:
is from July to September. Our project area has the rainfall which is divided into the following ranges:
Himachal Pradesh is a hilly and mountainous state situated between 30°22’ and 33°12’ N latitude and 75°47’ and 79°4’ E longitude. Its neighbors are Jammu and Kashmir in the north, Punjab in the west and south west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the South and Tibet in the east.
It is surrounded by mountainous regions except for Haryana and Uttar Pradesh which have sub-mountainous terrain. The altitudes in various areas range from 350-7000 m above MSL1. This affects the amount of rainfall in the region. The Monsoon season in HP 1 Himachal Pradesh Profile, Development reportPlanning commission of India
From the given graph below, we can analyze that soil type no. 55 covers maximum project area of 72,609 Ha. followed by soil 49.
Rainfall determines the cropping season of a region. In areas like Himachal Pradesh which have underdeveloped irrigation facilities, Sr No
Rainfall range in mm
1
<700
2
750-1000
3
1000-1500
4
1500-2000
5
>2000
almost all of the agricultural activities depend on the rainfall.2 Maximum rainfall getting region is smallest and that is Sub-catchment Si. Whereas major area gets rainfall below 700mm and those are Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti.
2 GENERAL REVIEW Economic Situation at National Level http://himachal.nic.in/finance/ES/eseng08.pdf
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin
Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4
3.4.5
The distribution of rainfall in our study area is represented in the map given below:
Conclusion: Major portion of the project is covered by Steep to very steep high hills of Greater Himalayas which is most of the time in a year covered with snow. The population here is very less. The forest type is of dry alpine and moist alpine with rainfall less than 700mm which is lowest in entire Satluj basin. It is in this region that the crops take lesser time to cultivate with agro-ecological zones Cold, Arid, Greater Himalayas with <60 days LGP and Cold to Warm Semi-arid, Semi-dry, Greater Himalayas with 60-120 days LGP. It is strange that when majority of the time this region is cover with snow and strong cold winds, the vegetation here can grow with less that 60 or less than 120 days. While the lower elevation area has Steep to very steep high hills of Lesser Himalayas with very less snow covered days. The population here is high comparatively. The forest type is Subalpine, Himalayan moist temperate, Sub-tropical pine, Sub-tropical broad
leaved hill type. The time taken by crops to grow is maximum with agroecological zones like ‘Warm, Subhumid, Moist, Lesser Himalayas with 180-270 days LGP’; ‘Warm, Per humid, Lesser Himalayas with 270-300 days LGP’; ‘Humid/Per humid, Lesser Himalayas with 300-330 days LGP’. The rainfall zone varies from 7501000mm to more than 2000mm.
4.1
Other references:
1. ICIMOD, The Changing Himalayas: Impact of Climate Change on
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin
Volume: I: Part I: Section: 3 Chapter: 4 Water Resources and Livelihoods in the Greater Himalayas 2. Manmohan Nath Kaul, The glacial and fluvial geomorphology of western Himalayas. 3. Forest cover assessment in western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh using IRS 1C/1D WiFS data 4. P. K. Joshi*, Sarnam Singh, Shefali Agarwal and P. S. Roy Indian Institute of Remote Sensing
3.4.6
(National Remote Sensing Agency), 4 Kalidas Road, P. B. No. 135, Dehra Dun 248 001, India 5. Yash Veer Bhatnagar, Relocation from Wildlife Reserves in the Greater and Trans-Himalayas: Is it Necessary? Nature Conservation Foundation and Snow Leopard Trust-India 6. G. W. A. Sparrow, Soils and Landforms, Proceedings of The South African Sugar Technologists' Association-March 1965
Comprehensive CAT Plan of Satluj River Basin