Importance of Parent materials

Different rocks or parent materials placed under similar climatic conditions give rise to soils which are very similar to one another.  On the other hand, similar rock formations or parent materials, placed under different or dissimilar climatic conditions, give rise to diff erent types of soils. Though the nature of changes taking place is more or less the same under different climatic conditions, the extent, rate and direction of changes and their extent of completion vary with the nature of climatic elements.  Hence, the