What is leaching? How does it affect the soil?
Leaching is the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the top layer of soil.
The soils in many areas of tropical rain forests are laterite soils. These soils are reddish in color and contain high levels of aluminum and iron and these materials resist leaching. These soils are typically nutrient-poor. Nutrients in the soil would be swiftly leached away by the heavy rainfall.
Humus content of the laterite soil is very low. Because,