Pedogenesis in a Toposequence of Chhotanagpur Plateau Region  of Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, India

A. Haldar, D.C. Nayak; S.K. Singh, Siladitya Bandyopadhyay*, B.N. Ghosh, S. Mukhopadhyay, K. Das, A.K. Sahoo,

Pedogenesis in a Toposequence of Chhotanagpur Plateau Region of Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, India

2019

A. Haldar, D.C. Nayak | S.K. Singh, Siladitya Bandyopadhyay*, B.N. Ghosh, S. Mukhopadhyay, K. Das, A.K. Sahoo,

Pedogenic processes act as indicators of soil development to explain soil landform relationship, vis-a-vis climate shift in Chhotanagpur plateau region of India. Soils of Katkamdag block of Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, representing core Chhotanagpur plateau region of India were investigated for pedogenic studies by characterizing and classifying them under the USDA Taxonomic system. The present investigation was aimed to find out the indicators of pedogenic properties pointing out the climate shift in the region. Six landforms were identified after conducting detailed soil survey in the study area. Formation of Lithic Ustorthents was noted in isolated hillocks, while, Rhodic Paleustalfs was formed in undulating uplands, Oxyaquic Haplustalfs in undulating plains, Typic Rhodustalfs in gullied lands and Typic Paleustalfs in gently to moderately sloping plateaus, respectively. The study also confirmed clay enrichment in B horizons which is the key indicator for soil development in plateaus, uplands and plains. Both progressive and regressive pedogenesis has been confirmed with signature of clay cutans (argillans) breakdown in the study area, supporting climate shift in the Chhotanagpur plateau region for the long period. Other indicators like age of soils in the region varied from 0.02 million years in isolated hillocks (P6) to as elderly as 0.92 million years in undulating plains (P1), which exhibited Oxyaquic Haplustalfs were most matured soil horizons. However, Lithic Ustorthents were most juvenile. Soil landform relationship, soil classification, pedogenic indices and age of soils depicted the pathways of soil development as indicators of climate shift in the region.

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