The Soils of Brant County - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Figure 10 .Main streams and tributaries in Brant CountyBrant, Tuscola and Colwood soils have developed on thesilt loam lacustrine sediments northeast of Brantford . In areaswhere the clay content of the sediment has increased to siltyclay loam and silty clay textures, Brantford, Beverly andToledo soils occur. Deep-water lacustrine sediments occursoutheast of Brantford characterized by clay and heavy claytextures . These include Smithville, Haldimand and Lincolnsoils . Shallow, multi-layered sediments give rise to differentsoils . Where thin deposits of sand overlie clayey materials atdepths of 40 to 100 cm, Bookton, Berrien and Wauseon soilsare recognized . If siltytextures overlie the clay sediments, Harrisburg,Osborne and Ohsweken soils occur. The landscaperelationships of these lacustrine soils with the adjacent Galtmoraine, extending from the southern portion of South DumfriesTownship into Brantford, Onondaga and Tuscaroratownships are depicted in Figure 7 .Late Wisconsinan alluvium occurs on terrace remnantsalong the major water courses while modern alluvium is beingdeposited on present-day floodplains and in stream channels .The former consists mainly of sand and gravel while the latteris mainly sand and silt with minor gravel . Peat, muck, and marlconstitute bog deposits occurring in closed depressions and inlow-lying areas where the water table is near the surface . Thelatter situation occurs over a large area south ofMount VernonStation where a veneer of organic material from 10 cm up to1 metre thick overlies the glaciolacustrine sand, shown inFigure 4 .Burford soils generally occur on the upper terrace remnantsof the Grand River comprising Late Wisconsinan alluvium. Floodplains of major streams with recent alluviumdeposits have been mapped as Alluvium . Swamp depositswhich consist of organic sediments in excess of 40 cm thick areclassified as Styx or Stayner soils .The variability of the above-described sediments contributesto a wide variety of soil conditions in Brant County.Relief and DrainageBrant County has a relatively low relief, generally less than100 metres, this being provided by a number of glacialmoraines in the County. Elevations decrease from 300 metresin the northwest to 202 metres in the southeast . The GrandRiver meanders diagonally across the County in the samedirection to empty into Lake Erie.There are five main tributaries that contribute to thedrainage system for the County. These are the Nith River and