Environment of formation of lateritic soil from southof Kankauli district, Maharashtra state, India

   General:
     The area covered by present investigations, is about 300 Sq. Km. in extend and it is located in South West part of Maharashtra
The area mainly contains the formations from Archeans that are mainly represented by phyllites, conglomerates and quartzites etc. to recent -subrecent sands and alluvium. Laterites, which are Pleistocene in age are derived by leaching and redposition processes acting on traps and Precambrian on the high plateaux of the Western Ghat ranges bordering the eastern side of the area under consideration. The laterite and lateritic soils are mostly ferruginous with dark brown, red and blackish red color.
The studies of various oxides such as Fe203,A1203,Ti02 and Si02 on 16 samples show high percentage of silica. Aluminium and iron have relatively low solubility over a wide range of pH. Under acidic conditions, in the presence of organic matter and ground water circulation, aluminium and iron are taken in to solution and retained at site in the form of hydroxides. The presence of pH between 5.12-7.20% shows poor mobility of aluminium and iron than that of silica,therefore showing more concentration of Fe and Al.