Detailed Soil Survey of the Mount Revelstoke Summit Area.

METHODS OF INVESTIGATIONField TechniquesThe first step in a soil survey project such as this istoexamine the soils and set up a working map legend or key to the soils .In order to accomplish this, soil profiles are examined and described andrelated to landform, landscape position, and vegetation patterns .Thesoil profiles serve as reference points in the continuum of soil variationand because no two profiles are identical itis necessary, for practicalpurposes, to define a class (soil mapping unit) with properties that varywithin specified limits .Soil map units, which consist of mappable groupsof soils with a high degree ofhomogeneity, are defined with a limitedvariation in such inherent soil properties as horizonation, texture,anddrainage .The nomenclature and guidelines of the System of Soil Classificationfor Canada (Canada Soil Survey Committee, 1970 and 1973) was usedthroughout the study with soil classification following the 1973 guidelines .Soil areas were identified through field observations of soil characteristicsand then delineated on aerial photographs using stereoscopic techniques .As mapping progressed, concepts and limits of soil map units were refinedand separations were checked until a final map was completed .Because slopeis an integral part of the concept of a soil mapping unit, separations weremade according to topographic classes and each soil area is identified asto its slope .In a detailed soil survey such as this (mapping scale 1 :6,000)the soil areas delineated have a high degree of homogeneity ;however someheterogeneity,in the form of inclusions too small to show on the map, isalways present .