Soils of County Clare
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Soil Survey Bulletin No. 23 Soils of County Clare by T. F. Finch (Report compiled by T. F, Finch, E. Culleton and S. Diamond) National Soil Survey of Ireland An Foras Taluntais (THE AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE) Published by An Foras Taluntais, 33 Merrion Road, Dublin 4 Price: £1.50 June, 1971 PREFACE This publication, Soil Survey Bulletin No. 23, presents the findings of the Soil Survey of County Clare. It is one of a series of county soil surveys being carried out by the National Soil Survey of An Foras Taluntais (The Agricultural Institute) for the purpose of providing basic information which can be used in optimum land-use planning. The field mapping was carried out at a scale of 1:10,560 (6 in. = 1 mile; 15 cm = 1.6 km) but the detail mapped on the field sheets is not shown on the published soil map at the scale of 1:126,720 (} in. 1 mile: 1.25 cm = 1.6 km) due to scale limitation. Copies of the field maps are available for consultation in the Soil Survey Office at Johnstown Castle, Wexford. Mr. T. F. Finch was responsible for the operation of this survey; he commenced work in the county in 1965 and completed the field investigations in 1968. Technical assistance was provided from time to time by Mr. P. Feeney, Mr. T. O'Shea and Mr. T. Martin. Mr. S. Diamond gave assistance and advice in soil correlation, classification and land-use interpretation, and Mr. R. F. Hammond in peat classifica tion. Mr. M. Bulfin contributed information on aspects of land-use in relation to forestry. Various members of the staff of the National Soil Survey and of the Soils Division of An Foras Taluntais contributed to the bulletin: Mr. G. A. Fleming and Mr. P. Parle contributed the section on trace elements, Dr. P. V. Kiely the section on clay mineralogy, Dr. R. M. Jelley the section on soil physical properties and Mr. T. Gleeson the section on the potential of selected soils for pasture production. Dr. A. O'Sullivan provided the information on vegetation throughout Appendix II. The analytical data in Appendix II were provided mainly by the laboratory staff of the Soil Survey Department (with assistance from the Soil Fertility and Chemistry Department) and of the Plant Nutrition and Biochemistry Department. The colour maps and various figures and plates were prepared by Mr. J. Lynch and Mr. V. Staples of the Cartographic Section assisted by Miss O. Shudall. Dr. T. Walsh, Director of An Foras Taluntais, gave the survey his enthusiastic support. Dr. P. Ryan, Deputy Director of An Foras Taluntais, encouraged and directed the work in his previous capacity as Head of the National Soil Survey. Mr. P. V. Geoghegan edited the bulletin, with assistance from Miss E. Bryan. Assistance also came from a number of outside sources. Mr. J. Barry, Chief Agricultural Officer, contributed Chapter IV and in compiling the information on soil suitability, personnel in the local Agricultural and Horticultural Advisory Services gave valuable assistance. Information on forestry (Chapter III) was provided by the staff of the Forestry Division, Department of Lands, through Mr. O. V. Mooney, Head of the Branch. Staff of the Geological Survey provided the section on solid geology, and climatic records were provided by the Meteorological Service. iii The colour printing of the maps was done by the Ordnance Survey which was also the source of base maps for the field mapping; the printed maps are based on the Ordnance Survey by permission of the Government. Grateful acknowledgment is made to all those contributors mentioned here and to others who helped in various ways. M. J. Gardiner, Head, National Soil Survey of Ireland An Foras Taluntais, Johnstown Castle, Wexford, April, 1971. IV Contents Chapter Page I Soil Survey Method 3 The Soil Profile 3 Soil Mapping 5 II The Soils and their Use-Range 7 Great Soil Groups and Soil Series 7 Brown Earth Group 7 Grey-Brown Podzolic Group 14 Brown Podzolic Group 17 Podzol Group 20 Gley Group 25 Rendzina Group 34 Lithosol Group 37 Regosol Group 37 Alluvial Soils 38 Complexes 41 Peat Soils 42 III Soil Suitability and Drainage 49 Suitability and Major Limitations of the Soils 52 Production Potential of Pastures on Certain Soil Series 52 Forest Productivity Investigations on Selected Soil Series 56 Classification of Soils According to Natural Drainage 58 IV Agricultural Pattern in the County 63 Dairying 63 Winter Feed 64 Sheep 64 Horses 64 Pigs 64 Other Enterprises 65 Future Trends 65 V Soils, Topography, Climate and Geology 66 Topography 66 Climate 69 Geology 72 Glacial Geology 75 VI Some Chemical and Physical Properties of Selected Soils 81 Trace Elements 81 Clay Mineralogy of Selected Soil Profiles 88 Physical Measurements 94 v APPENDICES Page Appendix I Definition of Terms Used in Profile Descriptions and Analyses .. 98 II Profile Descriptions and Analyses of Modal Profiles 106 III Stone Counts on Some Soils in Co. Clare . 238 IV Soil Series Common to Counties Limerick and Clare 240 V Classification of County Clare Soils According to American System (7th Approximation) 241 LIST OF MAPS 1 Soil Map of County Clare 2 Soil Suitability Map of County Clare LIST OF PLATES 1 Sporadic occurrence of well-drained Kilfergus soils on drumlins 11 2 Soils of the Kinvarra Series occurring within the Burren area .. 12 3 Sheep grazing on the Kilfenora Series which has its most suitable use in grassland .. .. .. 16 4 The well-drained Mountcollins soils are suitable for cultivation .. 19 5 Normal landscape positions of Ballylanders and Knockastanna Series 24 6 Profile of the Abbeyfeale non-Peaty Phase .. 28 7 Land-use on the Gortaclareen Series is restricted due to drainage problems 30 8 Contrast between good and bad grassland management on the Puckane Series .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 32 9 Typical view of the Burren Series .. .. .. .. 34 10 Limestone pavement within the Burren Series (75% rock) .. 36 11 Banagher Series within the Burren area .. .. .. 44 12 Cut-over peat sown to pasture with raised-bog in the background .. 45 13 Cut-over peat of the Aughty Series is more suitable for cultivation than the surrounding Kilrush Series .. 46 14 A stand of Sitka spruce on the poorly-drained Puckane Series 56 15 Soil distribution pattern in relation to topography (Carron, Burren Region) .. .. .. .. .. 66 16 Kinvarra and Kilcolgan Series being worked for sand and gravel .. 75 17 Kinvarra and Kilcolgan Series (Rocky Phase) on typical kame and kettle topography .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 78 LIST OF FIGURES 1 County Clare—geographical location and principal towns, villages and roads 2 2 Ballylanders Series in relation to landscape, geology and associated upslope soils .. .. .. .. .. 10 3 Position of Knockaceol Series in relation to relief and elevation .. 22 4 Abbeyfeale and associated soils in relation to topography and geology .. 26 5 Diagrammatic representation of profile from the man-made variant of Kilrush Series .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 31 vi List of Figures—Continued Page 6 Diagrammatic representation of the Burren-Ballincurra Complex in relation to landscape features and geology .. .. 40 7 Diagrammatic representation of soil series in relation to landscape features and geology .. .. .. .. 43 8 MAI (mean annual increment) and CAI (current annual increment) graphed against age and growth . .. .. .. .. 57 9 County Clare—general topographic features 68 10 Rainfall distribution on an average annual basis 70 11 Distribution of solid geological formations 73 12 Glacial pattern in County Clare .. 77 13 Chart showing the percentage of clay, silt and sand in the basic soil texture classes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 100 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Classification of main Soil Series in County Clare into Great Soil Groups and the relative extent of each group .. .. .. 47 2 Classification into Great Soil Groups of soils occurring as variants in County Clare .. .. .. .. 48 3 Soil suitability for tillage .. .. .. .. .. 50 4 Grass yields and fertiliser responses for six Soil Series (1963) .. 53 5 Soil suitability for grassland .. .. .. .. .. 54 6 Yield class assessment for forestry (standing crops 1968) on selected soil series .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 58 7 Soil suitability for forestry .. .. .. 59 8 Classification of the soils according to natural drainage .. .. 62 9 Average monthly and annual rainfall (mm) for high and low rainfall areas (1950-64) 71 10 Average monthly maximum and minimum air temperature('C), Shannon Airport (1939-42 and 1946-57) 71 11 Average daily mean of bright sunshine (hours). Shannon Airport (1931-60) 71 12 Average number of days with ground-frost, Shannon Airport (1948-57) 72 13 Absolute maxima of wind velocity (1951-64), knots per hour 72 14 Main glacial events in County Clare and their association with the general glacial pattern in the country .. .. .. .. .. .. 78 15 Soil series grouped according to geological parent materials .. .. 80 16 Normal ranges of some trace elements in soils; total contents in parts per million (ppm) .. .. .. 81 17 Essential trace elements .. .. .. .. .. .. 82 18 Selenium and organic carbon levels in Drombanny Series 87 19 Mineralogy (%) of the coarse clay fractions (2-0-2u) of the principal soils of Co. Clare 89 20 Mineralogy (%) of the fine clay fractions (<0-2u) of the principal soils of Co. Clare 91 21 Mineralogy (°,() of the fine silt fractions (5-2u) of the principal soils of Co. Clare 92 22 Macropore volume in some representative profiles 95 VII List of Tables—Continued Page 23 Bulk densities of representative profiles: data are given as g per cm3 after correcting for stones larger than 2 mm .. .. .. 95 24 Available water capacity of selected soils: data represent centimeters of available water held between pF 1 -78 and pF 4-2 for horizons to a depth of 20 inches (50 cm) 96 viii INTRODUCTION County Clare (Fig. 1), situated on the west coast of Ireland between the great sea- inlets of Galway Bay and the estuary of the River Shannon, extends from 52° 34' to 53 8' north latitude and from 8° 17' to 9° 56' west longitude.