NIOS Class 12 Geography Chapter 20 Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India, Solutions to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse throughout different chapters NIOS Class 12 Geography Chapter 20 Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India and select need one. NIOS Class 12 Geography Chapter 20 Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India Question Answers Download PDF. NIOS Study Material of Class 12 Geography Notes Paper 316.
NIOS Class 12 Geography Chapter 20 Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India
Also, you can read the NIOS book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) Book guidelines. These solutions are part of NIOS All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NIOS Class 12 Geography Chapter 20 Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India, NIOS Senior Secondary Course Geography Solutions for All Chapter, You can practice these here.
Land, Soil And Vegetation Resources in India
Chapter: 20
GEOGRAPHY
TEXTUAL QUESTION & ANSWER
INTEXT QUESTION 20.1
Q.1. Define land-man ratio.
Ans. Land-man ratio is defined as the ratio between the habitable area and the total population of a country.
Q.2. Name four countries where land-man ratio is much more favourable than in India.
Ans. (i) Australia.
(ii) Canada.
(iii) Argentina.
(iv) U.S.A.
(v) Chile.
(vi) Denmark and
(vii) Mexico.
Q.3. Name four countries where land-man ratio is less favourable than in India.
Ans. (i) Japan.
(ii) Netherland.
(iii) Egypt.
(iv) U.K.
(v) Israel and
(vi) China.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 20.2
Q.1. Name three areas where gully erosion is much more prominent.
Ans. (i) Chambal valley.
(ii) Gujarat.
(iii) Punjab.
(iv) Himalayas.
Q.2. What is most serious threat posed to the soil?
Ans. Deforestation.
Q.3. Name two methods adopted to develop land.
Ans. (i) Physical (land reclamation).
(ii) social (land reforms).
Q.4. Which is the area where wind erosion is more prominent?
Ans. Rajasthan.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 20.3
Q.1. (a) Name two important regions of Alluvial soil.
Ans. (i) Valley areas of Satluj, Ganga, Brahmaputra.
(ii) Fringes of the southern Peninsula.
(b) Which elements are responsible for red colour in red soil?
Ans. Compounds of iron.
Q.2. (a) Name three major types of soil erosion.
Ans. (i) Gully erosion.
(ii) Sheet erosion.
(iii) Land slides.
(iv) ravine erosion.
(b) Name four methods of soil conservation adopted for preventing soil erosion?
Ans. (i) Contour ploughing.
(ii) terracing.
(iii) shelter belt formation and
(iv) afforestation.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 20.4
Q.1. Give suitable technical terms for the following statements:
(a) The assemblage of plant species living in association with one another in a given environmental ________.
Ans. Natural vegetation.
(b) A large area densely covered by trees and shrubs generally with a common crown or canopy _________.
Ans. Forest.
Q.2. Classify the following species of trees into the types of vegetation gives below:
Mahogany, Ebony, Shisham, Cinchona, Sal, Palm, Rosewood.
(i) Moist Tropical Evergreen ________.
Ans. Mahogany, cinchona and palm.
(ii) Moist Tropical Deciduous ________.
Ans. Sal and Shisham.
(iii) Moist Tropical Semi-evergreen_______.
Ans. Ebony and Rosewood.
Q.3. Name the types of vegetation found in the regions of annual rainfall:
(i) exceeding 300 cms. _________.
Ans. Moist Tropical green.
(ii) between 200 and 300 cms ________.
Ans. moist tropical semi-evergreen.
(iii) between 100 and 200 cms _________.
Ans. Moist tropical deciduous.
Q.4. Give two most important characteristics of the moist tropical deciduous vegetation.
Ans. (a) The trees shed their leaves once in a year in dry season.
(b) This belt consist of a number of commercially important species of trees such as teak, sal, Shisham, bamboos and sandalwood.
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
Q.1. What are the significant features of land utilisation in in India?
Ans. There are mainly three significant features of land utilisation:
(i) High percentage of suitable land for cultivation.
(ii) Limited scope for further extension of cultivation.
(iii) Small area under pastures despite a large bovine population.
Q.2. Give a brief description of various types of land use in India.
Ans. Out of the total geographical area, land utilisation statistics are available for 3005 million hectares only. The following table shows the land utilisation in India:
| Category | Area (in million hectare) | % at total reporting area |
| 1. Net down area | 142.40 | 46.30 |
| 2. Current fallow | 13.70 | 4.20 |
| 3. Other fallow | 9.70 | 3.00 |
| 4. Pastures and groves | 15.40 | 5.00 |
| 5. Cultivable of waste | 15.00 | 4.70 |
| 6. Not available for uncultivable land | ||
| (a) Barren and uncultivable land | 19.60 | 6.20 |
| (b) Land under non-arable use | 21.20 | 8.60 |
| 7. Forest | 68.00 | 22.00 |
| Total | 305.0 | 100 |
Types of land use in India
Presently a little more than 40 million hectares of land is not available for cultivation. Area under this category has show decline from 50.7 million hectares in 1960-61 to 40.8 million hectares in 1990-91. There is a marginal decline in fellow land from 9.9% to 7.5% between 1950-51 to 1990-91. Cultivable westerlands also witnessed in appreciable decline of 34% between 1950-51 and 1990-91. During this period the net shown area has witnessed notable increase of about 20%. Only 14% of net down area produced two or more crops in 1990-91. Only 5% of the land is under permanent pastures and grazing in a country with the largest bovine population of the world. The process of industrialisation and urbanisation demands more land under roads, and settlements etc. Thus land use is a dynamic process. It changes over time due to a number of factors including increasing population.
Q.3. Write two main characteristics of each soil type of India.
Ans. The six major soils are found in India. The soils and their characteristics are as under:
1. Alluvial soils: These are found in Northern plain and coastal plains. They are fine grained. These are of two types khadar and Bangar. Khadar is new alluvial and Bangar is old one. They are generally rich in potash but poor in phosphorus.
2. Red soils: The raxwell derive their colour from their parent rocks. These are deficient in Humus content and lack in plant nutritions. These soils are found in Tamil nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Eastern Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chotanagpur region.
3. The black soils: These Soil are derived from the Deccan trap. They are mainly found in Maharashtra, Western Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They are rich in calcium and magnesium carbonate but poor in organic matter, Phosphorus and nitrogen.
4. Laterite Soils: They develop were the climate is moist. They have hydrated oxide of aluminium and iron. They are poor in humus. They are mainly found in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Western districts of Karnataka, parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam.
5. Desert soils: These soils develop under arid climatic conditions. These soils are poor in humus content but rich insoluble salts. They are found in large parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
6. Mountain soils: These are found on high mountains and are called mountain soils. These Sohail sir free from deformation and decomposition. They are less fertile. Their colour is generally grey.
Q.4. Describe various measures undertaken for conservation of soils.
Ans. Methods by which soil is prevented from being eroded constitutes soil conservation.
The following measures are being undertaken for soil conservation:
1. Improved agriculture practices in different regions are being done.
2. Contour ploughing and terracing are generally practised on the hills slopes.
3. Shelter belts are being planted.
4. Afforestation in Himalayas, in upper Damodar Valley and a Nilgiri Hills are being done.
5. Deforestation should be banned completely.
6. Over grazing by sheep, goats and order livestocks has been checked and planned.
