Transported Soils
These soils are formed from the weathered material which is transported and deposited away from the site of origin. Depending upon the nature of the transporting agent, the transported soils are called.
i) Colluvial, ii) Alluvial, iii) Glacial and iv) Aeolian
Colluvial:
These are the soils formed from the material transported by the pull of gravity. Fragments from cliffs or steep rocky slopes become dislodged from time to time and may accumulate below. This material is characteristically very coarse, consisting mostly of large fragments of rock and has a rather steep and unstable surface.
Alluvial:
Materials of this catego~ya re deposited by running water in the form offroodplains, river terraces, deltas and alluvial fans. These deposits have two outstanding characteristics by, which they can usually be recognised with ease. Fit, the individual particles tend to be rounded and smootlfed by the action of running water. Second, the layers are usually distinct in that each contain particles of a particular range or size class depending upon the speed of the transporting water.
Glacial:
These are the soils which are formed by the grinding action of ice and snow. Moving, heavy ice-masses and glaciers push before them and gather-within themselves large amounts of unconsolidated surface material.
Aeolian:
Wind transported materials constitute this category. This can be further divided into dunes or loess. These may occur along the shores of water bodies like seas and lakes as a result of water currents eroding the land and depositing the resultant sand particles on the strand in bays and the wind moving the material back to the land. Secondly, dunes formed along the river valleys, where flood waters deposit sand on the flood plain which when dry is blown by the wind.