Q182
Geography (incl. West Bengal)Soils, Natural Vegetation & Forests
Arrange the soils of India according to the decreasing share of area they cover:
- a.Red, Alluvial, Black, Laterite
- b.Alluvial, Black, Red, Laterite
- c.Black, Laterite, Red, Alluvial
- d.Alluvial, Black, Laterite, Red
Answer: (B) Alluvial, Black, Red, Laterite
Alluvial soil, covering about 40% of India, has the largest share, so options (A) and (C) are wrong. Black soil of the Deccan lava plateau and red soil of the crystalline peninsula each cover roughly a sixth of the country, and the keyed order places black second and red third. Laterite soil covers only about 4%, the smallest of the four. Option (D) is wrong because it ranks laterite above red soil.