Soils of the - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

KATZIE SOILS (KZ)
Location and Extent : Katzie soils occur only in the vicinity of Fort Langley and in thé southern part of Pit t
Meadows Municipality. About 170 ha of pure map units and 250 ha of complexes dominated by Katzie soils ar e
mapped . The complexes are mainly with Fairfield and Pitt soils .
Topography and Elevation : Katzie soils are gently to moderately undulating with slopes between 2 and 8
percent . They usually occupy the lower slopes and shallow depressions when associated with better draine d
soils and the upper slopes and ridge tops when intermingled with poorer drained soils . All areas lie less than 6
m above sea level .
Parent Material and Texture : The parent material of Katzie soils are fine to moderately fine textured Frase r
River floodplain deposits . Surface textures are mostly silty clay loam while subsurface and subsoils ar e
dominantly silty clay. Sandy materials sometimes occur at depths below 1 m or more .
Soil Moisture Characteristics : Katzie soils are moderately poorly drained . They are moderately to slowl y
pervious and have high water holding capacity and moderate to slow surface runoff. Groundwater tables are
usually high during the winter and freshet period of the Fraser River but retreat to depths of 1 m or more over th e
drier, summer period .
General Soil Description : The surface layer of Katzie soils usually consists of 20 to 40 cm of very dark gray
to black, silty to clayey, organic enriched material which is blocky to granular in structure and friable to firm whe n
moist . The upper 20 cm are usually cultivated . Underlying the organic matter enriched surface layer is about 3 0
cm of grayish-brown, clayey material which is coarsely vertically cracked and contains common to many, stron g
brown to reddish mottles . This, in turn, is underlain by at least 50 cm of massive, gray to olive-gray, claye y
material which contains common, strong brown to yellow red mottles . Soil reactions vary from moderately o r
strongly acid in the upper part to slightly acid at about 1 m depth (1 :1 H 20) . Soil classification is Orthic Humic
Gleysol.
Commonly Associated Soils : Pitt and Fairfield soils are closely associated in the landscape with Katzi e
soils . Pitt soils differ from Katzie by being poorly drained and usually lie in slightly lower landscape positions .
Fairfield soils, on the other hand, are imperfectly drained and lie somewhat higher than Katzie soils . They als o
have a thinner surface layer containing less organic matter and are silty rather than clayey in texture .
Vegetation : Most areas of Katzie soils are cleared and cultivated . Scattered remnants of natural vegetatio n
includes western red cedar, Sitka spruce, black cottonwood, willow and various shrubs . Rooting extends to
about 80 cm and is restricted below that by the fine subsoil textures and high winter watertables .
General Land Use Comments : (1) Although Katzie soils currently are mainly used for forage and pasture ,
other crops are also suited, especially those which can tolerate temporary high watertables . Artificial drainag e
will further widen the range of crops possible . The usually intimate intermingling with other soils make s
individual management of Katzie soils difficult . (2) Even though Katzie soils tend to occupy the highe r
landscape positions in the areas where they occur, they are severely limited for urban and similar uses . Soi l
bearing strengths are relatively low, excavations such as basements will probably contain water during winte r
and other high watertable periods . Slow permeability severely limits the operation of septic tanks .
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