GUELPH, ONTARIO - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The soils found on the coarse open till materials are usually very stony
and are often coarse to medium textured. The topography of these soils is
usually irregular and steeply sloping.
2. Loamy Limestone Till
Like the coarse open till materials, the loamy limestone till materials are
unsorted deposits where the melting ice left drift not subsequently modified
to any great extent by water.
This till occurs mainly in the southwestern part’ of the County but a large
area also occurs in Arran and Amabel townships.
The till is largely composed of materials derived from the underlying limestone
bedrock although varying amounts of Precambrian rocks may be present.
Limestone or granite boulders and stones are associated with a loamy matrix.
The pressure of the ice has compacted these stones and finer materials to such
an extent that soil water moves freely but not too rapidly.
The loamy limestone till is drumlinized and the topography varies from
smooth moderately to steeply sloping.
In the northern part of the area the till may vary somewhat due to water
action. Thin deposits of gravel may occur at the end or top of the drumlins.
The till also may vary in compaction and stoniness.
3. Subaqueous Till
The subaqueous till materials occupy a large section of the southwestern
part of Bruce County. The till is a brown calcareous clay containing a minimum
of pebbles and boulders. It is usually only six to ten feet thick and rests
on stratified clay of the same colour. The bulk of the clay in the upper till
sheet is quite likely reworked material from the beds below. The till is fairly
uniform and occurs as ground moraine having smooth very gently rolling to
smooth moderately rolling topography.
4. Lacustrine
,4n area of the County running from Chesley to the lakeshore is occupied
by lacustrine materials. Such materials were deposited from ponded or very
slowly moving water by the settling of the fine silt and clay particles. These
sediments are variable in composition showing that they have been derived
from different rocks. Siliceous and argillaceous materials had been transported
by glacial streams from other localities and had been deposited and mixed with
calcareous materials. In this way lacustrine materials of variable composition
are formed.
The texture is medium to fine, but fine textured materials are dominant.
The plains are stonefree since only fine sediment has been deposited. The
topography varies from smooth very gently sloping to smooth moderately
sloping.
5. Glacio-Fluvial
These are materials that are formed by the action of both ice and water.
They are poorly sorted, having an extreme range and frequent and abrupt
changes in particle size. As this formation occurs in close association with the
till, pockets of till often occur with sand and gravel.
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