Gujarat: Soils

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Below is the analysis of soils of Gujarat regionwise:

Central Gujarat:

The Soils of central Gujarat varies from shallow to deep soil depth class. The deep & very deep soil depth are found in western part, where as shallow soil depth belongs to eastern part. The soils are fine to coarser and well to moderately drained in general and observed some what excessive drained also. The Soils are slight to moderate saline having slight sodicity.
The Soils of Vadodara, Panchmahal and Dahod district belong to shallow to deep in soil depth classwhere as they vary from moderately deep to very deep in Anand.

The Soils of Central Gujarat belongs to fine to coarser in general. The soils of Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod districts are dominantly medium textured (Loamy) followed by fine textured (clayey).The soils adjoining to Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal&Dahod districts are coarser (Sandy). In Vadodara district the soils are dominantly fine textured (clayey) followed by medium textured (loamy) and towards adjoining Vadodara &Dahod district boundary the soils are coarser (sand).

Soil drainage in Anand, Kheda and Panchmahal are well to moderately drained where as in Vadodara &Dahod district varies from well drained to moderately drained followed by some what excessive drained. The soils of western parts of Anand districts are medium saline in nature and towards north slightly saline in nature.

Saurashtra

Accordingly, most of Soils in Saurashtra region is having shallow (25-50 cms.) to moderately shallow (50 to 75 cm) depth Soils Whereas Soils of Kachchh region have moderately deep (75-100 cm) to deep (100 to 150 cm) Soils Mostly Northern part of Saurashtra region comprises of shallow depth Soils, whereas Southern part have moderately shallow to moderately deep depth Soils, Gir area has very shallow (10-25 cms) depth Soils.
Soil texture acts as a guide to many Soil characteristics directly or indirectly related to plant growth. Three textural groups used are clayey (fine), Loamy (medium) and Sandy (Coarse). The majority of Soils in Saurashtra region are clayey (fine textured), whereas in Kachchh region, Soils are Loamy (medium textured). Some scattered parts of Saurashtra region have Loamy Soils and Some parts of Kachchh have sandy Soils.

Drainage affects the soil-air-water relationship in Soils and Suggests the availability of Oxygen in mapped soils for root ramification. Majority of the Soils are well drained in Saurashtra and Kachchh region. Some Scattered parts have Some what excessive drainage.

The information on the degree and extent of salt-affected soils and the depth of its occurrence is basic, for ameliorating such degraded soils. The soil salinity / sodicity map provides this kind of information for optimising land use. Major area of Saurashtra and Kachchh region are non-saline.

Costal area of the Saurashtra and Kachchh region are saline. Some parts of Kachchh near Rann, coastal area of Porbandar and Bhavnagar district are strong to very sever saline. North-Western part of Kachchh and costal part of Bhavnagar district are moderately strong saline. Some part of Rajkot district near little Rann of Kachchh, some coastal part of Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Amreli and Bhavnagar are slightly saline.

Some interior parts of Amreli and Bhavnagar district, some coastal parts of Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar district and Western part of Kachchh are having slight sodicity in soils. Bhal area of Bhavnagar district has strong sodicity in soils. The coastal part of Porbandar district has moderate Sodicity in soils.

South Gujarat

South Gujarat region compries of Bharuch Narmada, Surat, Tapi, Navasari, Valasad and Dang Districts. Dominantly the Soils are very deep, well drained and fine and medium textured. They are slightly alkaline, slight to strong saline. The Soil characteristics like Soil depth, Soil texture, Soil drainage, Soil Salinity and Sodicity District wise is mapped characteristic

Soil depth in South Gujarat is well distributed in two parts. The Soils in western side are dominantly very deep followed by moderately deep and in eastern part soils are dominantly shallow followed by moderately shallow.

The Soils in Bharuch, Narmada, Surat, Navasari and Valasad District dominantly distributed to very deep soil depth class followed by shallow depth Moderately deep soil are also observed, Where as in Tapi district the soil depth are dominantly shallow followed by very deep. In Dang district the soils are dominantly distributed in shallow soil depth class.

Soils in South Gujarat in general varies from fine to medium textured. (Clayey to loamy clay), except in Dang District. In Dang the soils are medium textured.

Soil Drainage in South Gujarat are well to moderately drained in general. In Dang district the soil drainage is well drained.

Soil salinity in South Gujarat varies from slight to strong salinity class.In Bharuch District soil salinity belongs to slight to moderate and severe towards coastal. In Narmada ,Tapi and Dang district soil salinity is moderate. The Soil salinity in Surat, Navasari and Valasad belongs to slight to strong salinity class.

The Soil Sodicity in South Gujarat in general belongs to slight sodicity class except in Navasari where soil sodicity varies from slight to moderate.

North Gujarat

North Gujarat Region consists of Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Surendranagar and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat State.

In this region, major area falls into ‘very deep’ soil. However, ‘deep’ soil is in major area of Surendranagar district and in few area of Ahmedabad and Patan district. There are ‘moderately deep’ soils in few area of Surendranagar, Patan and Ahmedabad district and in North-East of Sabarkanthadistrict.There are ‘very shallow’ to ‘shallow’ soil in North-East part (Sabarkantha district) and South West (Surendranagar district) part of the region. Rock outcrops are also found in some part of the region especially in North-East (Banaskantha and Sabarkantha district) & South – West (Surendranagar District) of the region.

A major texture of the soil in the region is ‘Loamy’. However, in South-West part (in Ahmedabad and Surendranagar district) a soil texture in few area is found to be ‘Clayey’. It is also ‘Sandy’ soil in some area of the Northern part (Banaskantha district) of the region.

Major area of the region is having ‘Well’ drained soil. However, in some area of region especially in central part (Adjoining area of Mehsana, Sabarkantha and Gandhinagar district.) and eastern part of Banaskantha and Western part of Surendranagar district is representing ‘Some what excessively’ drained soil. A very few area of southern part of the region (Adjoining area of Ahmedabad and Surendranagar district) and in Western part (Patan district) is showing ‘moderately well’ drained soil.

In few area of middle part of Ahmedabad district and Eastern part of Surendranagar district is ‘Slightly Saline’. A considerable area of Eastern part of Patan and Western part of Mahesana, a southern part of Ahmedabad district and North-West part of Banaskantha district is representing ‘Moderate’ salinity of the soil. ‘Strongly’ saline soil is observed in South-West part of Banaskantha and Western part of Patan district. Very few area have ‘Severe’ saline soil in Southern part of Ahmedabad district.

Slight sodicity is found in central part of the region ( In Patan, Mahesana and Ahmedabad district) and in North-East part of Surendranagar district. In west part of the region (Banaskantha, Patan,Surendranagar and Ahmedabad district). ‘Moderate’ to ‘strong‘ sodicity of the soil is found in the region.

 

The plains and the peninsulas constitute two basic soil regions of the State of Gujarat.

  1. The southern parts of the Gujarat plains shows deep black soils.
  2. The central Gujarat possesses sandy loam soil, locally called Goradu which is highly fertile.
  • The Goradu region of Gujarat is called the ‘Garden of Gujarat’ because of it’s amazingly fertility in raising crops in abundance.
  1. The Kathiawar and Kachchh peninsulas contain soils derived from Deccan lava, but each one of them has its peculiarities.
  2. The northern parts of Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar contain alluvium sandy soils.

 

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