Sand and silt mineralogy of some forest soils of Pauri district, Uttarakhand

Abstract

Fine sand and silt mineralogy of selected horizons of some soils representing various landforms of Pauri district of Uttarakhand were investigated. Light minerals constituted bulk of fine sand fraction and consisted of quartz, orthoclace feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and muscovite in their abundance. Heavy minerals occurred in minute amounts and were dominated by opaque minerals, zircon, hornblende, calcite, chloritized mica, biotite, tourmaline, rutile and garnet. The study suggests that quartz, tourmaline, opaque minerals, rutile and zircon were the resistant minerals present in these soils. The most weatherable minerals include feldspar, calcite, biotite, chlorirtized mica and hornblende. In silt fraction, quartz was the dominant mineral in all the pedons. Variation in mineralogical make up were mostly associated wi9th nature and composition of parent material and degree of weathering. The soils of Pauri district, in general contained moderate to high amount of weatherable minerals indicating their juvenile to intermediate stages of weathering.