IAS NOVA Interactive Atlas · Geography Through Maps
INDIA SOILS ATLAS
Explore India’s eight major soil groups. Hover or tap a coloured zone to study formation, texture, minerals, fertility, crops, management and memorable examination clues.
Jump to a soil type · all eight shown
Map reading note: the coloured areas show broad dominant-soil zones for education and examination revision. Soil boundaries are gradual, local profiles vary, and several soil groups can occur within one state; this is not a field-survey or parcel map. Lakshadweep’s coral-derived calcareous sands fall outside the eight broad mainland groups. Classification and properties follow NCERT and the ICAR–NBSS&LUP framework cited in NCERT’s India: Physical Environment.
Major Soil Types of India Map
This interactive soils of India map explains the distribution and properties of alluvial, black, red and yellow, laterite, arid, forest and mountain, saline and alkaline, and peaty and marshy soils. It combines map practice with the formation processes, nutrient characteristics, crops and management issues most often tested in geography and environment examinations.
Alluvial Soil
Indus–Ganga–Brahmaputra plains; Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam; Rajasthan–Gujarat corridor, river valleys and east-coast deltas.
Black Soil
Maharashtra, western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, parts of Andhra Pradesh, northern Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu.
Red and Yellow Soil
Large parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern Madhya Pradesh and adjoining plateau regions.
Laterite Soil
Higher parts of Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra; hills of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.
Arid Soil
Western Rajasthan, the Kutch region of Gujarat and adjoining dry parts of Haryana and Punjab.
Forest and Mountain Soil
Himalayas, northeastern hills, high Western Ghats, parts of the Eastern Ghats and forested island terrain.
Saline and Alkaline Soil
Rann of Kutch, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, plus coastal Odisha, Tamil Nadu and the Sundarbans.
Peaty and Marshy Soil
Kuttanad and coastal Kerala, the Sundarbans, northern Bihar and Terai pockets, with smaller marshy tracts in Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
