Resources are defined as a means of meeting a need, particularly an economic or social need, of the people. The term usually refers to natural resources like land, water, air. Natural resources are largely unchanged materials of the land that are valuable to people and used in variety of ways. Pakistan is rich in natural resources. It has mountains, plains, deserts, fertile soils, rivers and oceans. Natural Resources are very important for the development and prosperity of a country. The important thing is to utilize them for the welfare of the human beings and development of the country economically because the progress of a country totally depends upon the utilization of the available resources. The important natural resources are described as under: Soil
The Soil of Pakistan belongs to dry group having high calcium carbonate and content and deficient in organic matter. These vary in colour from reddish brown in the north to red or gray in the south. These soils are generally fertile due to process of formation. The newly deposited alluvium near the river is called Khaddar and mostly consists of sand. The old alluvium of the bar uplands, called Bangar, consists of finer particles – loams. At the foot of the mountains the soil is sandy and generally becomes finer towards the plains where Khankah, limestone concentration, is occasionally found. The soils of the Thal and the Thar deserts and of Balochistan are wind-blown. In southern Potwar a thin layer of residual soil covering is found.
Soil is defined as that part of the unconsolidated material covering the surface of the earth which supports plant growth. It has three major constituents. (1) Solid Particles (Salts, mineral and organic matter), (2) air and (3) water.
The type of soil formed is a function of topography, climate vegetation and the parent rocks from which the soil material is derived. Soil material transported and deposited by running water is known as alluvium which that transported and deposited by winds form aeolian soil. Soils formed in silt are termed residual. Soil forming process is complex and continuous. As a result, soils vary in their chemical composition colour, texture and organic content place to place