GK Quiz on Soils
“Test your knowledge with our engaging GK Quiz on Soils! Discover interesting facts and learn more about different soil types, their properties, and their impact on the environment.
Perfect for students, educators, and soil enthusiasts, this quiz offers a fun and educational way to explore the world beneath our feet. Dive in now and see how much you know about so!”
1. Earth’s body of soil is known as?
a) Pedosphere
b) Lithosphere
c) Biosphere
d) Hydrosphere
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Answer. a) pedosphere. Earth’s body of soil is the pedosphere, which has four important functions: it is a medium for plant growth; it is a means of water storage, supply, and purification; it is a modifier of Earth’s atmosphere; it is a habitat for organisms; all of which, in turn, modify the soil.
The pedosphere interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. The term pedolith, used commonly to refer to the soil, translates to ground stone. Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution).
2. Soil science has how many branches of study?
a) 4
b) 1
c) 2
d) 3
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Answer. 2. Soil science has two basic branches of study: edaphology and pedology. Edaphology is concerned with the influence of soils on living things. Pedology is focused on the formation, description (morphology), and classification of soils in their natural environment.
3. Which soils are formed from the chemical decomposition of rocks?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Marine deposits
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. a) Laterite Soils. Laterite soil”s are formed from the chemical decomposition of rocks. These soils are found in Central, Eastern, and South India. These are residual soils formed from basalt and have high specific gravity. These soils are mostly composed of calcite depositions.
4. Which soils are pink or red?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Marine deposits
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. a) laterite soils. Laterite soils are formed from the chemical decomposition of rocks. These soils mainly contain iron oxide which gives them characteristic pink or red colour.
5. Which soils are formed by the sediments brought down by the rivers?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Marine deposits
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. d) alluvial. These soils are formed by the sediments brought down by the rivers. They are also rich in chemical ingredients. The rivers deposit very fine particles of soil called alluvium in their plains during their long course of journey. Alluvial soil is also known as riverine soil because it is mainly found in the river basin. Alluvial soils are very fertile. They contain potash, phosphoric acid, and lime which are ideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheat, and other cereal and pulse crops. Soils in the drier areas are more alkaline and can be productive after proper treatment and irrigation.
6. Which soil is formed from arid conditions with practically negligible rainfall?
a) Marine deposits
b) Desert soils
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. b) desert soil. These soils are found in the Thar desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan. This soil is formed from arid conditions with practically negligible rainfall. This type of soil is highly pervious and has a low density. It requires densification to increase its bearing capacity and shearing strength. Commonly recognized plants that grow in these soils are cacti.
7. Which soils are also called regur soils?
a) Marine deposits
b) Desert soils
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. c) black soil. These soils are also called as regur soils. Central India and the Deccan plateau mainly constitute this type of soil.
8. Which soil is suitable for the growth of cotton?
a) Marine deposits
b) Desert soils
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. c) black. These soils are also called regur soils. Central India and the Deccan plateau mainly constitute this type of soil. The soil is suitable for growing cotton. It is believed that the climatic conditions along with the parent rock material are the important factors for the formation of black soil. This type of soil is typical of the Deccan trap region spread over the Northwest Deccan plateau and is made from lava flows. They cover the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh and extend in the South-East direction along the Godavari and Krishna valleys. These soils contain essential clay minerals such as montmorillonite. These soils cover an extensive area of 300,000 km.
9. Name the soil with low shearing strength and high compressibility.
a) Marine deposits
b) Desert soils
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. marine deposits. These soils are found in a narrow belt near the southwest coast of India. These soils have low shearing strength and high compressibility. The marine clays are soft and highly plastic. They contain large amounts of organic matter and are not suitable for the construction of megastructures like buildings, cranes, etc.
10. Which of the following are the engineering properties of black soils?
a) High compressibility
b) Low bearing capacity
c) Low shearing strength
d) All the above.
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Answer. d) all the above. Black soils contain essential clay minerals such as montmorillonite. These soils cover an extensive area of 300,000 km2. The engineering properties of such soils are as follows:
• High compressibility
• Low bearing capacity
• Low shearing strength
They are made up of clayey materials. They are well known for their capacity to hold moisture. They are rich in calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash, and lime.
11. Mineral material from which soil forms is known as?
a) Basic
b) Parent
c) Raw
d) Main
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Answer. b) parent. The mineral material from which soil forms is called parent material. Rock, whether its origin is igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, is the source of all soil mineral materials and the origin of all plant nutrients with the exceptions of nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon. As the parent material is chemically and physically weathered, transported, deposited, and precipitated, it is transformed into soil.
12. Sedimentary deposits settled in lakes are called _________.
a) Lacustrine
b) Aeolian
c) Calcite
d) Feldspar
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Answer. a) lacustrine. Water-transported materials are classed as either alluvial, lacustrine, or marine. Alluvial materials are those moved and deposited by flowing water. Sedimentary deposits settled in lakes are called lacustrine.
13. Which of the following is an example of sediment?
a) Clay, gravel, sand, pieces of shell
b) Only Clay
c) Only pieces of shell
d) Only sand
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Answer. a) Clay, gravel, sand, pieces of shell
14. Planting different crops each year (corn one year, beans the next) is called what?
a) Terracing
b) No Till-farming
c) Wind Breakers
d) Crop Rotation
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Answer. d) crop rotation
15. Making steps on the side of a mountain to slow down water erosion is called what?
a) Terracing
b) No Till-farming
c) Wind Breakers
d) Crop Rotation
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Answer. a) terracing
16. What is the name of the layer of soil just under the grass?
a) topsoil
b) subsoil
c) bedrock
d) parent rock
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answer. a) topsoil.
17. After digging deeper and deeper, you will eventually hit a solid (unweathered) rock, called _______________.
a) Humus
b) organic material
c) subsoil
d) bedrock
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answer. d) bedrock. In engineering terms, soil is included in the broader concept of regolith, which also includes other loose material that lies above the bedrock. Soil is commonly referred to as earth or dirt; technically, the term dirt should be restricted to displaced soil.
18. Which soils are usually free of lime and so are very sour?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Peat soil
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. b) peat soil. Peat Soils in India are usually absolutely free of lime and so are very sour. This sourness is produced by the decaying of the vegetable matter. Peat soils contain more than 20 percent of humus. These soils contain more organic matter and are formed in wet climates.
19. Formation of soil is known as?
a) Pedogenesis
b) Anthropogenic
c) Regoliths
d) Mycorrhizal
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Answer. a) pedogenesis. Soil formation, or pedogenesis, is the combined effect of physical, chemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes working on soil parent material. Soil is said to be formed when organic matter has accumulated and colloids are washed downward, leaving deposits of clay, humus, iron oxide, carbonate, and gypsum, producing a distinct layer
called the B horizon.
20. The mixing of the soil by the activities of animals is known as?
a) Anthropogenic
b) Regoliths
c) Mycorrhizal
d) Pedoturbation
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Answer. d) pedoturbation. In general, the mixing of the soil by the activities of animals, sometimes called pedoturbation, tends to undo or counteract the tendency of other soil-forming processes that create distinct horizons.
21. Alluvium soil is later divided into how many parts?
a) 3
b) 4
c) 1
d) 2
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Answer. d) 2. Geologically, the alluvium of the Great Plain of India is divided into newer or younger khadar and older bhangar soils. The khadar soils are found in the low areas of the valley bottom which are flooded almost every year.
22. Along the Shiwalik foothills, alluvial fans are having coarse, often pebbly soils. What is the name of the zone?
a) Bhabar
b) Regoliths
c) Mycorrhizal
d) Pedoturbation
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Answer. a) bhabar. Along the Shiwalik foothills, alluvial fans are having coarse, often pebbly soils. This zone is called bhabar. To the south of the bhabar is a long narrow strip of swampy lowland with silty soils. It covers an area of 56,600 sq km and is called tarai.
23. Black soils are derived from how many types of rocks?
a) 5
b) 4
c) 2
d) 3
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Answer. c) 2. Most of the black soils are derived from two types of rocks, the Deccan and the Rajmahal trap, and ferruginous gneisses and schists occurring in Tamil Nadu. The former are sufficiently deep while the latter are generally shallow.
24. Laterite and Lateritic Soils are suitable for the growth of?
a) Tea
b) Coconut
c) Rubber
d) All the above
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Answer. d) Due to intensive leaching and low base exchange capacity, typical laterite soils generally lack fertility and are of little use for crop production. But when manured and irrigated, some laterites and lateritic are suitable for growing plantation crops like tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona, coconut, etc. In low lying areas paddy is also grown
25. In how many groups Indian soil is divided?
a) 7
b) 8
c) 6
d) 9
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Answer. b) 8. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) set up an All India Soil Survey Committee in 1953 which divided the Indian soils into eight major groups. They are (1) Alluvial soils, (2) Black soils, (3) Red soils, (4) Laterite and Lateritic soils, (5) Forest and Mountain soils, (6) Arid and Desert soils, (7) Saline and Alkaline soils and (8) Peaty and Marshy soils
26. Indian soils can broadly be divided into how many types?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
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Answer. a) 2. Geologically, Indian soils can broadly be divided into two main types:
(a) Soils of peninsular India and
(b) Soils of extra-peninsular India
The soils of Peninsular India are those which have been formed by the deomposition of rocks in situ, i.e. directly from the underlying rocks. They are transported and redeposited to a limited extent and are known as sedentary soils.
On the other hand, the soils of the Extra-Peninsula are formed due to the depositional work of rivers and wind. They are mainly found in the river valleys and deltas. They are very deep and constitute some of the most fertile tracts of the country. They are often referred to as transported or azonal soils.
27. Tamil Nadu has which type of soil?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Red soil
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. b) red. 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. These soils are spread on almost the whole of Tamil Nadu, parts of Karnataka, south-east of Maharashtra, eastern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Chota Nagpur in Jharkhand.
28. Which soil has acid granites and gneisses, quartzitic and felspathic as its parent rock?
a) Laterite Soils
b) Red soil
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. b) red. The main parent rocks are acid granites and gneisses, quartzitic and felspathic. The color of these soils is generally red, often grading into brown, chocolate, yellow, grey or even black. The red color is due more to the wide diffusion rather than to the high percentage of iron content.
29. Which type of soil is found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka?
a) Saline
b) Alkaline Soils
c) Black
d) Both a & b
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Answer. d) both. Saline and Alkaline soils are found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the drier parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, there are salt-impregnated or alkaline soils occupying 68,000 sq km of area. These soils are liable to saline and alkaline efflorescences and are known by different names such as reh, kallar, usar, thur, rakar, karl and chopan.
30. Which type of soil is in the region of the coastal areas of Orissa and Tamil Nadu, Sunderbans of West Bengal, in Bihar and Almora district of Uttaranchal?
a) Marshy soils
b) Red soil
c) Black soil
d) Alluvial
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Answer. a) marshy. Marshy soils with a high proportion of vegetable matter also occur in the coastal areas of Orissa and Tamil Nadu, Sunderbans of West Bengal, in Bihar and Almora district of Uttaranchal. The peaty soils are black, heavy and highly acidic. They are deficient in potash and phosphate. Most of the peaty soils are under water during the rainy season but as soon the rains cease, they are put under paddy cultivation.
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