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

above the calcareous Ck or IICk horizons . Theclay enriched B horizons usually have sandy loamtextures, while the Ck or IICk horizons usuallyhave gravelly coarse sand or gravelly sandtextures.Soil reaction ranges from slightly acid toneutral in the Ap horizons, to mildly alkaline inthe IICk horizons. Soil classification is typicallyBnuiisolic Gray Brown Luvisol.Soil VariabilityBurford soils mainly occur in areas which arenear or adjacent to the Thames River and largecreeks which run through the County. Frequentlythe upper materials contin gravel which mayrange as high as 20% in some soils . Occasionallythe upper lacustrine materials have loam textures,or the underlying fluvial materials consist ofalternating layers of sandy and gravelly materials.Brisbane (BI) or Caledon (CA) soils may occur inlandscapes where Burford soils were mapped .Land Use/Management CommentsBurford soils are rated Class 2FM for commonfield crops when topography is not a limitation.They fiend to be draughty because of their lowwater holding capacities . Burford soils aresuitable for a wide range of special crops if thesurface slopes are not too steep . Withsupplemental irrigation, they are highly suitablefor many fruit and vegetable crops. Suitabilityratings for selected special crops are given inTables 6, 7, and 8.Burford soils are susceptible to wind erosion.Planting cover crops, establishing windbreaks, andcarrying out management practices whichmaintain organic matter levels, will aid inreducing the risk of wind erosion. Conservationtillage practices, particularly no-till practices,should be considered for these soils .Caledon Soils (CA)Landform and TopographyCaledon soils have developed on 40 to 100 cmthick veneers of coarse textured lacustrinematerials which are underlain by gravelly coarsetextured fluvial outwash materials. They usuallyoccur on upper to crest slope positions, especiallyin landscapes where imperfectly or poorly drainedsoils also occur. The topography associated withCaledon soils ranges from nearly level to verygently sloping or undulating. Slopes generallyrange from 1 to 5% .Soil Moisture CharacteristicsCaledon soils are well drained and rapidlypermeable. They have low water holdingcapacities and slow surface runoff, except onslopes greater than 5% where runoff may bemoderate.General Soil CharacteristicsThe Ap horizons usually have sandy loam orloamy sand textures. The textures of the sandyBm horizons are usually loamy sand or sand .Clay enriched Bt or IIBt horizons, which usuallyhave sandy loam textures, commonly occur abovethe calcareous IICk horizons . The IICk horizonsfrequently have gravelly coarse sand or gravellysand textures.Soil reaction ranges from slightly acid toneutral in the Ap horizons, to mildly alkaline inthe IICk horizons . Soil classification is typicallyBrunisolic Gray Brown Luvisol.Soil VariabilityCaledon soils mainly occur in areas which arenear or adjacent ,to the Thames River and largecreeks which run through the County. Frequentlythe upper sandy materials have been windmodified . Occasionally Caledon soils have rapiddrainage when the Bt or 11Bt horizons are weaklydeveloped and the upper materials also containsignificant amounts of gravel. The underlyingIICk materials of some Caledon soils consist ofalternating layers of sandy and gravelly materials .Fine phase Caledon soils (CA.F) were mappedwhere 15 to 40 cm of clay loam or silty clay loamtextured material overlies the sandy and gravellymaterials . Caledon (CA) soils were most oftenmapped in combination with Camilla (CM) soils.Fox (FX) and Brady (BY) soils may occur inlandscapes where Caledon soils were mapped .Land Use/Management CommentsCaledon soils are rated Class 2FM forcommonfield crops when topography is not a limitation .They have fertility limitations and also tend to bedraughty. With supplemental irrigation, they arehighly suitable forawide range of special crops ifthe surface slopes are not too steep. Suitabilityratings for selected special crops are given inTables 6, 7, and 8.Caledon soils are susceptible to wind erosion.Planting cover crops, establishing windbreaks, andcarrying out management practices whichmaintain organic matter levels, will aid inreducing the risk of erosion by wind .