The Soils of The Regional Municipality of Ottawa=Carleton

Soil Landscape Units Two units were identifiedin the Ottawa
association . They are described as follows :
Recognized Recognized
Subgroups Series
OTI : Dominantly exces- Orthic Dystric Buckham
sive to well-drained Brunisols Bay
soils found on undulating
to hummocky
topographywith gentle
tomoderate slopes .
Slopes range from
6 to 15% .
OT2 : Dominantly exces- Orthic Dystric Buckham
sive to well-drained Brunisols Bay
soils found in combi- (Ex . to well)
nation with significant Gleyed Dystric
areas ofimperfectly Brunisols
drained soils found (Imperfect)
on very gently undulating
topography.
Slopes range from
2to5% .
Taxonomic Components The excessive to well-drained Buckham
Bay series (Orthic Dystric Brunisol subgroup) under forest
conditions has a very dark brown LFH surface horizon of
accumulated organic material comprising leaves, twigs, and
evergreen needles which are in various stages of decomposition
. Generally, it is not that well decomposed . Under nonforested
conditions, only a very dark grayish brown mineral
Ah horizon occurs at the surface . It is usually less than 10 cm
thick . Weathered B horizons underlying the Ah horizon are
darkbrown to brown incolor and usuallydo not extend beyond
60cm in depth . Parent materials are most often light yellowish
brown in color. Soil structure throughout the profile is single
grain .
The imperfectly drained Gleyed Dystric Brunisols have
slightly duller matrix colors and strong brown to yellowish
brown mottles in the subsoil . Other profile characteristics are
similar to the Buckham Bay series .
General Land Use Alargeproportion of Ottawa soils are currently
under pine reforestation, possibly for stabilization purposes
since these soils are highly susceptible to wind erosion .
Woodland and scrubland exist on the remaining portion of
these soils.
Correlation to OttawaUrban Fringe TheOttawa soil association
was not mapped in theOttawa Urban Fringe. It was identifiedas
a separate soilassociation in this survey due to its unique
landform and close similarity to soils mapped as the Ottawa
series along theOttawa River in Pontiac County, Quebec. Soils
of the Ottawa association are similar to the Ottawa series in
Quebec in that both are derived from medium sand alluvial
material deposited very recently by the Ottawa River.
Ottawa soils werenot included in the Uplands soil association
for two reasons . The first reason is the difference in mode
of deposition . Uplands soils have developed on marine or flu
vial (deltaic) sands deposited duringthe time ofthe Champlain
Sea . Ottawa soils have developed on recent fluvial sands
deposited bythe Ottawa River. The second reason for differentiating
Ottawa soils is a marked difference in topography.
Ottawa soils have undulating to hummocky topography,
whereas the topography of Uplands soils is generally much
more subdued .
QUEENSWAY (Q)
Location and Extent Queensway soils occur only in the City
of Kanata and the northern part of West Carleton Township .
Their extent is quite limited with approximately 1,500 ha having
been mapped . Of that total, more than 50% were mapped
in combination with either soils of other associations or miscellaneous
land units . In general, the distribution of
Queensway soils is closely associated with those ofthe Nepean
andAnstruther soil associations .
Landform and Topography Queensway soils have developed
on stony glacial till (morainal) material which occurs in the
form of subdued till ridges, or as nearly level to gently sloping
or undulating till plains . Although easily recognizable in the
landscape, the landforms associated with Queensway soils are
not as pronounced asthose on which soils ofthe Grenville association
are found . Slopes range from 1 to 9%, withthe majority
of soils having slopes of2 to 5 01o .
Soil Materials Queensway soil materials are moderately
coarse to coarse textured and have a considerable coarse fragment
content . Angular and slightly rounded stones and boulders
occur throughout the profile which have primarily been
derived from sandstone and quartzite bedrock . A small proportion
of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock fragments
also occur in most materials .
The parent material of Queensway soils is an olive gray to
dark brown colored unsorted till which closely resembles that
of the Grenville association . Queensway materials, however,
are distinguished by having ahigher sand content, a more acid
soil reaction, no free carbonates, and theabsence ofsubstantial
amounts of limestone or dolomite coarse fragments . The texture
of the parent material is usually sandy loam or loamy
sand, with sandyloam being the most common . Soil reaction is
medium to slightly acid . The chemical and physical composition
of the upper weathered material does not vary significantly
from that of the parent material . Surface textures are
also predominantly sandy loam .
Surface stoniness varies on Queensway soils, with conditions
ranging from nonstony to very stony. In the case of the
latter condition, approximately 3 to 15% of the total surface
area is covered with stones at least 15 cmin diameter.
SomeQueensway soils were mapped with a shallow phase.
These soils consist of 50 to 100 cm of Queensway materials
which overly sandstoneand quartzite bedrock .
Soil Moisture Characteristics More than 85% of all
Queensway soils are well-drained . Of the remaining soils, the
majority are imperfectly drained with the remainder being
poorly drained . The well-drained soils are situated on the middle
to upper slope positions of till ridges orplains . Imperfectly
drained soils are situated on the middle to lower slope positions,
while the poorly drained soils are found on the lowest
positions in the landscape which are level to nearly level .
Queensway soils are quite permeable and have a relatively
low moisture holding capacity. Surface slopes associated with
the well and imperfectly drained soils are primarily responsible
for moderate surface runoff on those soils . Due to their lower
landscape position the imperfectly drained soils are subject to
periodicsaturation during the growing season primarily dueto
high watertables .
The infrequently occurring poorly drained soils have slow
surface runoffdue mainly to their level or nearly level topography.
Slow surface runoff, subsurface seepage from adjacent