**2.1.3 Geology, Soil and bioclimate**

Eastern Ghats is not formed of one particular geological formation but consist of rocks varying in origin and structure according to the location. Geologically, zone-1 is mainly of Charnockites and Khondalites (Krishnan, 1960) having red and black soil, while, zone-2 is made up of Quartzite and Slate formations with red, mixed red, black and lateritic soil.

Climate of zone-1 is warm and humid with an annual precipitation of 1200-1700 mm compared to zone-2 which is hot and dry with lesser precipitation of 600-1000 mm. Topographically, zone-1 has higher altitudinal range (100-1672m) compared to zone-2 (100- 1000m).
