The black soil of the north-western Deccan has developed on which kind of rock?
- A.Granite
- B.Basalt of the Deccan Trap
- C.Limestone
- D.Sandstone of the Vindhyan series
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, basalt of the Deccan Trap. The Deccan Trap was formed by vast fissure eruptions that spread sheet after sheet of lava over the north-western peninsula. Weathering of this basalt produces the clayey black soil known as regur or black cotton soil, which holds moisture well and is the basis of cotton cultivation in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
Option A, granite, weathers into the red and lateritic soils of much of the southern plateau, not into black soil. Option C, limestone, gives thin calcareous soils and karst landforms and is not the parent material of the regur belt. Option D, the sandstone of the Vindhyan series, produces sandy and poor soils in central India. Only the basalt of the trap country accounts for the deep black soils shown on soil maps of the Deccan.
Read the full article: Physiography of India: Physical Divisions and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhere is Lakshadweep located?
- A.Bay of Bengal
- B.Pacific ocean
- C.Arabian sea
- D.Atlantic ocean
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Lakshadweep is a group of small coral islands, atolls and reefs lying off the Malabar coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea, built on a submarine ridge.
Read the full explanation →The narrow, pebble-studded belt at the foot of the Shiwaliks, where the streams descending from the mountains disappear underground, is called the
- A.Terai
- B.Bhabar
- C.Bhangar
- D.Khadar
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Where the rivers leave the hills they drop their coarsest load, and the resulting belt of gravel and pebbles is so porous that the smaller streams sink into it and vanish.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is the highest peak of peninsular India?
- A.Doda Betta
- B.Anaimudi
- C.Mahendragiri
- D.Guru Shikhar
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Anaimudi stands in the Anaimalai hills of Kerala, where the Anaimalai, Palani and Cardamom hills meet, and rises to about 2,695 metres.
Read the full explanation →The Narmada and the Tapi are unusual among peninsular rivers because they
- A.rise in the Himalaya
- B.flow through rift valleys and drain into the Arabian Sea
- C.form large deltas on the eastern coast
- D.are entirely seasonal streams
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Both rivers flow westward along faulted troughs, or rift valleys, that lie between the Vindhya and the Satpura ranges, and both empty into the Arabian Sea through estuaries instead of deltas.
Read the full explanation →The Palghat Gap, an important break in the Western Ghats, lies between which two hill groups?
- A.Nilgiri and Anaimalai hills
- B.Cardamom and Palani hills
- C.Satpura and Maikal hills
- D.Javadi and Shevaroy hills
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The Palghat Gap is a wide trough about thirty kilometres across, and it is the principal natural break in the otherwise continuous wall of the Western Ghats.
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