The Soils of The Regional Municipality of Ottawa=Carleton

Class Description
Sl Slightly stony - land having 0 .01-0 .1 010 of surface
occupied by stones. Stones commonly 10-30 m apart .
The stones offer only slight to no hindrance to cultivation
.
S2 Moderately stony - Land having 0.1-3% of surface
occupied by stones . Stones commonly 2-10 m apart .
Stones cause some interference with cultivation .
S3 Very stony - Land having 3-15% of surface occupied
by stones . Stones commonly 1-2 mapart . There are sufficient
stones to constitute a serious handicap to cultivation
.
S4 Exceedingly stony - Land having 15-50% of surface
occupied by stones . Stones commonly 0 .7-1 .5 m apart .
There are sufficient stones to prevent cultivation until
considerableclearing has been done.
S5 Excessively stony - Land having more than 50% of
surface occupied by stones . Stones commonly less than
0 .7mapart . The land istoo stony to permit cultivation .
(d) Rockiness Classes
Rockiness classes are based on the percentage of surface
occupied by exposed bedrock or which has bedrock occurring
within 10 cm . The following rockiness classes were used :
Class Description
R1 Slightly rocky land - Sufficient bedrock exposures to
interfere with tillage but not to make intertilled crops
impracticable. Depending upon how the pattern
affects tillage, rock exposures are roughly 35-100 m
apart and cover 2-10% ofthe surface.
R2 Moderately rocky land - Sufficient bedrock exposures
to make tillage of intertilled crops impracticable,
but soil can be worked for hay crops or improved pas
ture if other soil characteristics are favorable. Rock
exposures are roughly 10-35 m apart and cover 10-25 01o
ofthe surface, depending upon the pattern .
Land areas having rockiness conditions which composed
25% or more of the surface were mapped as the Rockland land
type.
(e) Soil Phases
Four soil phases were used to describe additional features
present in the landscape which arenot accounted for bythe soil
landscape unit shown inthe mapunit symbol to define the land
area . The following soil phases were used :
Shallow phase-Adepth modifier applied to mineral soil
materials which are defined in the legend and association
descriptions as being thicker than 1 m, but in the area deline
ated have bedrock between 50and 100 cm ofthe surface. Thus,
underlying bedrock occurs which is not normally present with
materials of that type. This bedrock occurrence should not be
confused with soil associations such as Farmington orNepean,
which are defined as being 50 cm or less of mineral material
over bedrock .
Peaty phase- A surface modifier applied to mineral soils
which have 15 to 40 cm of organic (peat) material at the surface.
These soils are significantly wetter than similar mineral
soils which do not have such accumulations at the surface .
Coarse phase - A surface modifier applied to mineral
soils which have 15 to 40 cm ofsurface materialwhich is significantly
coarser textured than materials which normally occur.
Sandy loam, loamy sand, and sand are the most common textures
associated with coarse phases.
Fine phase -A surface modifier applied to mineral soils
which have 15 to 40 cm of surface material which is significantly
finer textured than materials which normally occur.
Clay loam and silty clay loam are the most common textures
associated with finephases .
(f) Calcareousness Classes
Class CaCO, equivalent (%)
Weakly calcareous < 5
Moderately calcareous 5-15
Strongly calcareous 15-25
Very strongly calcareous 25-40
Extremely calcareous >40
(g) Reaction Classes
Class pH values
Extremely acid X4 .5
Verystrongly acid 4 .6-5 .0
Strongly acid 5 .1-5 .5
Medium acid 5 .6-6 .0
Slightly acid 6 .1-6 .5
Neutral 6 .6-7 .3
Mildly alkaline 7 .4-7 .8
Moderately alkaline 7 .9-8 .4
Strongly alkaline Z8 .5