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

Table6. Soil families ofBrant County (Cont'd .)Subgroup Mineralogy Reaction CalcareousSoilTemperatureSoilMoistureParticle SizeSeriesOrthic mixed neutral moderatelyRegosol mixed neutral moderatelyRego Humic mixed neutral moderatelyGleysolOrthic mixed neutral weaklyHumicGleysolmixed alkaline stronglymixed alkaline stronglymixed alkaline stronglyHumic Luvic mixed neutral stronglyGleysol mixed neutral stronglymixed neutral stronglymixed alkaline stronglymixed neutral stronglyTerric mixed alkaline moderatelyHumisolTypic mixed alkaline moderatelyHumisolmild subhumid coarse silty Alluviummild subhumid loamy Alluviummild aquic sandy Alluviummild aquic sandy Waterinmild aquic sandy over Gilfordloamymild aquic loamy over Ayrfragmentalmild aquic fine clayey KelvinLincolnToledomild aquic sandy Granbymild aquic fine loamy Marybillmild aquic coarse loamy Vanessamild aquic , coarse silty Colwoodmild aquic sandy over Wauseonclayeymild aquic humic over Staynersandymild aquic humic StyxSoil Great Groups and SubgroupsSoil orders are subdivided into a number of great groups,each with profile expressions that reflect the strength of somesoil-forming factor in addition to the dominant one . Likewise,great groups canbe further subdivided into subgroups .Luvisolic soils in Brant County primarily belong to theGray Brown Luvisol great group . Depending upon the extentof weathering and resultant colour development in the uppersolum, well-drained Luvisols may be classified as either Orthicor Brunisolic Gray Brown Luvisol subgroups . Imperfectlydrained soils of this great group are classified either as GleyedGray Brown Luvisols or Gleyed Brunisolic Gray Brown Luvisolsubgroups.Brunisolic soils of the County are mainly classified asMelanic Brunisols . They may be further subdivided intoOrthic, Eluviated or Gleyed Melanic Brunisol subgroups .Most soils of the Gleysolic Order are classified into theHumic Gleysol great group. These in turn are subdivided, mostcommonly, into the Orthic Humic Gleysol subgroups, andoccasionally as Rego Humic Gleysols . There are lesser occurrencesof soils of the Luvic Gleysol Great Group, Humic LuvicGleysolsubgroup.Most organic soils in the County are classified in theHumisol great group reflecting the highly humified nature ofthe organic material . Subgroups recognized include the TypicHumisols and Terric Humisols based upon the depth to underlyingmineral layers .Regosolic soils do not occur in sufficiently large areas inthe County to comprise dominant soils in a map unit . However,their localized occurrence is as soils of the Regosol greatgroup, Orthic and Gleyed Regosol subgroups .Soil FamiliesSoil families are divisions of subgroups and are differentiatedon the basis of parent material characteristics such as texture,mineralogy, reaction, calcareousness and soil climate .Classification of the soils of Brant County at the family level isshown in Table 6using classes described in (11) .Soil SeriesSoil series are subdivisions of soil families and are the mostspecific level of soil taxonomy. The concept of the soil serieshas been refined over the years and the link between the soilseries and real soil bodies is a three-dimensional soil unit calleda pedon . Pedons classified as a given soil series have a similarnumber and arrangement of horizons whose colour, texture,structure, consistency, thickness or combinations. of theseproperties are within a defined range . In the case of soils withoutgenetic horizons, these properties apply to the C horizonto the depth of the control section . For soil surveys such as22