The soil and subsoil

The soil of the Caransebes depression is thin and poor in nutritive materials. In the lowest area, the minor riverbeds and the riverside, the soil is made of new alluviums – sands, gravel and argyle. Along the Timis River the soil is in the shape of strip, it is shorter south to Caransebes – where the riverbed is limited by high banks – and wider downstream, where the floodable area was bigger, especially on the right bank, which is lower than the left one. Here, at the surface, the soil is made of sand and argyle, and at its base it is made of gravel, a combination which gives birth to the most fertile soil in the area, where cereals are grown. This short stripe is limited, on both sides, by a wide surface of podsol, soil characteristic to the hill region, soil which is poor in humus. These surfaces are favourable for forage plants and for fruiters.