Soils of the - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

WESTLANG SOILS .
(WS)
Location and Extent : Westlang soils occur only on the lowlands near Fort Langley and in northwester n
Langley Municipality where about 320 ha of pure map units and 50 ha of soil complexes dominated by Westlan g
soils are mapped . The complexes are with Annis and Katzie soils .
Topography and Elevation : Topographically, Westlang soils are gently undulating to undulating with slop e
gradients less than 5 percent . They are either slightly depressional or lie topographically lower than associated ,
better drained soils . Elevations are between 3 and 5 m above sea level .
Parent Material and Texture : Westlang soils have developed from moderately fine to fine-textured deposit s
of sediments eroded from the adjacent marine uplands mixed with Fraser River floodplain deposits . Surface
textures range from silty clay loam to silty clay while subsurface and subsoil textures vary from silty clay to clay .
Below depths of about 80 cm, a gradual transition to silty or fine sandy textures often occurs .
Soil Moisture Characteristics : Westlang soils are poorly to very poorly drained . They are slowly perviou s
and have high water holding capacity and slow surface runoff . Watertables are at or near the surface for most o f
the winter and early part of the summer and temporary flooding is usual during heavy, prolonged rain .
General Soil Description : Westlang soils have a very dark gray, cultivated, clayey surface about 15 c m
thick which is strongly blocky to subangular blocky in structure, very firm when moist and hard when dry . It i s
underlain by 50 cm or more of massive, very to extremely firm, dark gray to gray, clayey material .which contain s
common, yellowish-red mottles and vertical cracks 15 to 30 cm apart when dry . This zone, in turn, grades to firm ,
dark gray, silty material containing few to common, yellowish-brown to dark brown mottles . Soil reaction varie s
from medium or strongly acid in the surface to medium or slightly acid in the subsoil (1 :1 H 2 O). Soil classification
is Rego Humic Gleysol.
Commonly Associated Soils : Katzie and Annis soils often occur in close association with Westlang soils .
Annis soils differ by having organic surfaces from 15 to 40 cm deep while Katzie soils occur at slightly highe r
landscape positions than Westlang soils and are somewhat better drained and have well structured subsurfac e
layers .
Vegetation : Cleared and cultivated areas are used mainly for pasture and hay . Natural vegetation include s
black cottonwood, willow, sedges, reeds and grass . Rooting is restricted mainly to the upper 50 cm by th e
dense subsoil and high watertables .
General Land Use Comments : (1) High watertables and susceptibility to surface ponding are the mai n
agricultural limitations of Westlang soils, particularly for perennial crops . Tile drainage will help improve th e
structure of the subsoil as well as providing better aeration and water movement . Tile spacings should b e
relatively close because of the slowly permeable subsurface and subsoil . Power requirements for cultivation ar e
high and surface puddling is likely if cultivated when wet . (2) High watertables, slow subsoil permeability ,
flooding hazard and variable soil bearing strengths combine to make Westlang soils poorly suited for urba n
uses .
196