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

INTRODUCTIONThe soil resource information contained in thisreport and shown on the soil maps was compiledfrom information gathered during a resurvey ofElgin County. The original soil survey for theCounty was completed in 1929 and consisted of asingle soil map published at a scale of 1:126,720, or1 centimetre on the map being equal toapproximately 13 kilometres on the ground (1) .There was no accompanying soil report.The decision to resurvey Elgin County wasmade as part of an ongoing program in Ontario toprovide improved information about the soilresources ofthe province. The field work requiredfor the resurvey of Elgin County was started in1982 and completed in 1989 . Three preliminarysoil maps (2,3,4), and preliminary agriculturalcapability interpretations (5) were made availableduring this time period .The final soil report consists of two volumes.Volume 1 contains an outline of the physiographicsetting of the soils, generalized descriptions of thesoils, soil interpretations and an appendix whichcontains generalized analytical information forselected soils. Volume 1 also contains a secondappendix which contains information that willassist in identifying the soils at field sites.Volume 2 contains detailed morphological,physical and chemical descriptions of typical soils,and also tables of statistical means andengineering test data. In addition to the soilreport, there are three soil maps published at ascale of 1 :50,000, or 1 centimetre on the map beingequal to approximately 0.5 kilometres on theground .The information contained in this report andshownon the soil maps should be used in place ofall previously published soil information for theCounty .HOW TO USE THE SOIL REPORT AND MAPSThe soil maps and report provide basic soilsinformation for both land management and landuse decision makers . Most of the information canbe placed into one of two categories: (a) the natureand properties of the soils, and (b) interpretive soilinformation including general agriculturalcapability, suitability for selected field andhorticultural crops, and erosionpotential bywater .To use the soil maps and report mostefficiently, the following steps are suggested :1 . Locate the area of interest in the 'Soil MapIndex" (Figure 1). Determine the appropriatesoil map for the area.2. Locate your site on the appropriate soil map.Natural and cultural features on themap suchas streams, roads, lot and concession numbers,should aid in locating the site .3. Note the map symbol or symbols shownwithin the boundaries of themap delineationsfor your site. An explanation of how tointerpret a map symbol appears on the soilmaps under the heading 'Key to the MapSymbols".4. Consult the map legend to obtain informationfor the map symbol . The legend providesinformation for the soil types, land units, orslopes represented in the symbol.