Red soil

Red Soil:  

               This comprehensive term designates the largest soil group of India, comprising several minor types. Most of the red soils have come into existence due to weathering of ancient crystalline and metamorphic rocks. The colour of these soils is generally red, often grading into brown, chocolate, yellow, grey or even black. The red colour is due more to the wide diffusion rather than to high percentage of iron content. The red soils occupy a vast area of about 3.5 lakh sq km which is about 10.6 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. In the north the red soil area extends in large parts of south Bihar; the Birbhum and Bankura districts of West Bengal; Mirzapur, Jhansi, Banda and Hamirpur districts of Uttar Pradesh; Aravallis and the eastern half of Rajasthan, parts of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya.