Engineering and Agricultural Properties of Black Cotton and Red Sandy Soil

Soils can differ largely from location to location. Soil colour depends on organic matter and mineral content and is influenced by drainage. Different types of soil are sand, silt, and clay but most soils are composed of a combination of different types. The characteristic strength of soil, however, is its shear strength, which can be found from two parameters, that is, shear strength parameters - cohesion, and the angle of internal friction (ø). Soils can be acidic, alkaline or neutral. Soil pH influences nutrient absorption and plant growth. Some plants like potatoes grow well in a more acidic soil (pH of 5.0-6.0). Carrots and lettuces prefer soils with a neutral pH of 7.0. In this paper the properties of black cotton soil (collected from Gulbarga, Karnataka) and red sandy soil (collected from Doddaballapur, Karnataka) are studied, and their engineering and agricultural properties are discussed.