Which of these statements is not correct regarding black soil in Madhya Pradesh ?
- (a)It is formed by the weathering of Deccan lava.
- (b)This soil is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter.
- (c)This soil has a high capacity to retain moisture.
- (d)This soil is mainly found in the western parts of the state.
Correct — B, 'This soil is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter.' This is the statement that is NOT true, and therefore the answer. Black soil (regur / black cotton soil) is chemically rich in lime, iron, magnesia, alumina and potash, but it is deficient in nitrogen, phosphorus and humus (organic matter). That is exactly why cotton, soybean and wheat farms on the Malwa Plateau and in the Narmada valley depend on nitrogenous and phosphatic fertiliser even though the soil is called 'fertile' — its fertility comes from mineral content and moisture-holding clay, not from nitrogen or humus.
- (a)It is formed by the weathering of Deccan lava. — This statement is TRUE, so it cannot be the answer. Black soil is a residual soil formed in situ by the weathering of the basaltic lava of the Deccan Traps — the fissure-flow volcanic rock that covers most of western and central Madhya Pradesh.
- (c)This soil has a high capacity to retain moisture. — This statement is TRUE. Black soil carries roughly 20–60% clay of the swelling (montmorillonite) type; it holds water tenaciously, swells when wet and cracks deeply when dry. Its high moisture retention is precisely why it supports a rain-fed cotton crop.
- (d)This soil is mainly found in the western parts of the state. — This statement is TRUE. Black soil dominates the Malwa Plateau, the Narmada valley, Nimar and the Satpura tract — the western, south-western and central parts of Madhya Pradesh. Eastern MP (Baghelkhand) is red-and-yellow soil country.
Black soil (regur, a Vertisol) is a residual soil weathered in place from Deccan Trap basalt. Its defining trait is swelling clay: 20–60% montmorillonite-type clay that expands when wet and opens deep cracks when dry, which is why the soil is described as 'self-ploughing' and why it retains moisture far better than sandy or red soils. Chemically it is well supplied with lime, iron, magnesia, alumina and potash but short of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter.
This is a 'which statement is NOT correct' question, so three of the four statements are true and only one has to be caught. The trap is the everyday belief that a soil famous for cotton, soybean and wheat must be rich in everything. Separate the two ideas in your head: black soil's strength is mineral wealth plus moisture retention; its weakness is nitrogen, phosphorus and humus.
- Parent material: basaltic lava of the Deccan Traps — hence black soil covers the Malwa Plateau, Narmada valley, Nimar and Satpura tracts of western and central MP.
- Chemistry: rich in lime, iron, magnesia, alumina and potash; deficient in nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter (humus).
- Physics: 20–60% swelling (montmorillonite) clay — very high moisture retention, deep cracks on drying, sticky and hard to plough when wet.
- Eastern Madhya Pradesh (Baghelkhand) carries red-and-yellow soils, not black soil — MPPSC asked exactly this in 2021.
- Chief crops on MP's black soil: cotton (hence 'black cotton soil'), soybean, wheat and gram.
- Assuming 'fertile for cotton' means 'rich in every nutrient' — regur is poor in nitrogen, phosphorus and humus.
- Confusing high moisture retention with good drainage — black soil holds water but drains badly and becomes waterlogged.
- Treating black soil as the soil of the whole state — eastern MP is red-and-yellow soil country.
Black soil is an almost fixed MPPSC item — asked as parent rock (2024), regional spread (2021), and repeatedly as a 'which statement/characteristic is NOT correct' set (2023, 2025). UPSC asks the parent rock and the crop association instead.
The black cotton soil of India has been formed due to the weathering of
- (a) brown forest soil
- (b) fissure volcanic rock
- (c) granite and achist
- (d) shale and limestone
Answer(b) fissure volcanic rock
UPSC 2021 tests the same origin fact that statement (a) of this MPPSC question states — black cotton soil is weathered from fissure-flow (Deccan Trap) lava.
Which of the following characteristics is NOT correct with reference to the black soil of Madhya Pradesh?
- (a) Black soil is also known as cotton soil.
- (b) It has high moisture-retaining capacity.
- (c) Black soil contains a higher proportion of sand.
- (d) Its structure is cloddy but sometimes crumbly.
Answer(c) Black soil contains a higher proportion of sand.
The same question in the same 'NOT correct' format two years earlier — 2023 attacked the clay/sand property, 2025 attacks the nutrient property.
Black soil in Madhya Pradesh is formed by which rock?
- (a) Sandstone
- (b) Limestone
- (c) Basalt
- (d) Gneiss
Answer(c) Basalt
Tests statement (a) of this question directly — the parent rock of MP's black soil is Deccan Trap basalt.
In which of the following regions of Madhya Pradesh is black soil NOT found?
- (a) Malwa Plateau
- (b) Narmada Valley
- (c) Baghelkhand
- (d) Satpura Range
Answer(c) Baghelkhand
Tests statement (d) of this question — the western/central concentration of black soil, checked from the reverse side (where it is absent).
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 'self-ploughing' character of black soil is mainly due to:
- (a)its high sand content
- (b)deep cracks that open on drying because of swelling clay
- (c)its very high humus content
- (d)intense laterisation in high rainfall
Answer(b) deep cracks that open on drying because of swelling (montmorillonite) clay — the cracks turn the soil over naturally.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which soil type is characteristic of the Baghelkhand region of eastern Madhya Pradesh?
- (a)Black (regur) soil
- (b)Red and yellow soil
- (c)Laterite soil
- (d)Alluvial soil
Answer(b) Red and yellow soil — black soil is confined largely to western and central MP.