Alluvial soil is the most fertile, widely spread and important soil of India. The six main characteristics of this soil type are: (i) Alluvial soil is riverine soil, transported and deposited by rivers. (ii) Alluvial soil consists of various proportions of sand, silt and clay. (iii) Alluvial soils are agriculturally most productive and densely populated. (iv) They mostly contain adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric acid and lime. (v) Alluvial soil is divided into new alluvium or khadar, which is fine, sandy and fertile and older alluvium or bangar, which is clayey, dark in colour, contains kankar nodules and is less fertile. (vi) Alluvial soil forms the Northern Plains and in the Eastern Coastal Plains.