Abstract

                                Laterisation is a common soil forming process in humid tropics including India, where probably more than one fifth of the total cultivable land belongs to the laterite type. Research leading to clarification as to whether the soils of Nilgiris belong to the group laterite is necessary, as at present little is known in a systematic way regarding the chemical and physical properties of these soils. The morphology and chemistry of the soils of the Nilgiri district are not yet fully known. Earlier workers attempted sporadically to analyse the soils from this district but none of them exhaustively studied the soils present throughout the entire plateau. Hence in this piece of investigation an attempt has been made to conduct a detailed study of the soils by collecting representative samples from localities showing a wide range of elevation and rainfall. In this paper the physical and chemical properties, of Nilgiris soils and the effect of rainfall and elevation on these properties are discussed and an attempt was made to classify and assign a proper class to the soils.

Key words :