SOIL SURVEY PUBLICATIONS 1962-1979 County Surveys Soils of Co. Wexford, 1964* — M. J. Gardiner and P. Ryan Soils of Co. Limerick, 1966 — T. F. Finch and P. Ryan Soils of Co. Carlow, 1967 — M. J. Conry and P. Ryan Soils of Co. Kildare, 1970 — M. J. Conry, R. F. Hammond and T. O’Shea Soils of Co. Clare, 1971 — T. F. Finch, E. Culleton and S. Diamond Soils of Co. Westmeath, 1977 — T. F. Finch and M. J. Gardiner Soils of West Cork, (part of Resource Survey) 1963 — M. J. Conry, P. Ryan and J. Lee Soils of West Donegal, (part of Resource Survey) 1969 — M. Walsh, M. Ryan and S van de Schaaf Soils of Co. Leitrim, (part of Resource Survey) 1973 — M. Walsh An Foras Talúntais Farms Grange, Co. Meath, 1962 — M. J. Gardiner Kinsealy, Co. Dublin, 1963 — M. J. Gardiner Creagh, Co. Mayo, 1963 — M. J. Gardiner Herbertstown, Co. Limerick, 1964 — T. F. Finch Drumboylan, Co. Roscommon, 1968 — G. Jaritz and J. Lee Ballintubber, Co. Roscommon, 1969 — M. Ryan and J. Lee Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, 1969 — T. F. Finch and J. Lee Clonroche, Co. Wexford, 1970 — T. F. Finch and M. J. Gardiner Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary, 1970 — M. J. Conry Ballygagin, Co. Waterford, 1972 — T. F. Finch and M. J. Gardiner Department of Agriculture Farms Clonakilty, Co. Cork, 1964* — J. Lee and M. J. Conry Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan, 1965* — M. Ryan and J. Lee Athenry, Co. Galway, 1965* — S. Diamond, M. Ryan and M. J. Gardiner Other Farms Kells Ingram, Co. Louth, 1964* — M. J. Gardiner Multyfarnham Agricultural College, Co. Westmeath, 1964* — J. Lee and M. J. Conry Bishopstown and Ballincollig (UCC), Co. Cork, 1964* — J. Lee Kennedy Arboretum, Slievecoiltia, Co. Wexford, 1968 — M. Bulfin and M. Ryan Kilpatrick and Derrybrennan, Co. Kildare (with Bord na Móna) 1973 — R. F. Hammond and J. Bouma Miscellaneous General Soil Map of Ireland, 1969 Survey of some Midland sub-peat mineral soils (with Bord na Móna), 1971 — M. L. Carey The Potential of Irish Land for Livestock Production, 1972 — J. Lee and S. Diamond Soils of Annascaul Pilot Area, 1973 — M. J. Conry and T. O'Shea Survey of cut-over and sub-peat mineral soils, Cnoc Dioliun Group (with Bord na na Móna), 1973 — T. A. Barry, M. L. Carey and R. F. Hammond Soils of Upperchurch Farm, Co. Tipperary, 1974 — P. Whelan and M. J. Conry Map of soils of West Mayo, 1975 — J. Kiely, S. Diamond, P. J. Burke and T. Collins The Peatlands of Ireland (map and bulletin), 1979 — R. F. Hammond Soils around Scarriff, Co. Clare, 1979 — T. F. Finch *Out of print Soil Survey Bulletin No. 36 ISBN 0-905442-49-0 Soil Associations of Ireland and Their Land Use Potential Explanatory Bulletin to Soil Map of Ireland 1980 by M. J. Gardiner and T. Radford NATIONAL SOIL SURVEY OF IRELAND An Foras Talúntais (The Agricultural Institute) Published by An Foras Talúntais, 19 Sandymount Avenue, Dublin 4 1980 Printed by Mount Salus Press Limited, Tritonville Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4. CONTENTS Soil Survey Publications 1962-79 ......................................................................................................... ii Foreword .............................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................v Chapter Page 1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................i 2 Soil formation in Ireland ........................................................................................................3 The soil forming processes .................................................................................................3 Factors of soil formation ....................................................................................................4 3 Soil survey method ................................................................................................................15 The soil profile .................................................................................................................15 Definition of terms used ...................................................................................................18 Soil profile analysis ..........................................................................................................20 4 Soil classification ...................................................................................................................25 Great soil groups ..............................................................................................................25 Soil series .........................................................................................................................29 Soil associations ...............................................................................................................29 5 The soil map legend ...............................................................................................................31 Physiographic divisions ....................................................................................................31 The legend ........................................................................................................................34 6 Soil associations of mountain and hill ..................................................................................39 7 Soil associations of hills .........................................................................................................47 8 Soil associations of rolling lowland ......................................................................................59 9 Soil associations of drumlins ................................................................................................85 10 Soil associations of flat to undulating lowland ....................................................................95 11 Potential land use of Irish soils ...........................................................................................125 Extent of soils in different physiographic divisions .......................................................125 Land use range ................................................................................................................128 Land resources of the development (IDA) regions ........................................................129 Marginal land .................................................................................................................131 Tillage land .....................................................................................................................134 References .........................................................................................................................................142 TABLES Table Page 1 Normal ranges of some trace elements in soils .................................................................. 23 2 Soil classification scheme ............................................................................................. 25 3 Extent of each soil association .....................................................................................126 4 Drumlin soils grouped by drainage status ....................................................................127 5 Lowland soils grouped by parent material and drainage status .....................................127 6 Extent of use range classes ..........................................................................................128 7 Land resources of IDA development regions ...............................................................130 8 Use range of soils of IDA development regions ...........................................................131 9 Extent of marginal land by country and province .........................................................132 10 Extent of marginal land by county ...............................................................................132 11 Extent of different kinds of marginal land ...................................................................133 12 Soils suitable for tillage in Ireland ...............................................................................135 13 Extent of tillage land by province ................................................................................137 14 Quality of tillage land by province ..............................................................................138 15 Extent of tillage land by county ...................................................................................139 16 Tillage suitability classes on a county basis .................................................................140 17 Total corn, roots, green crops and fruit (1977) .............................................................141 FIGURES Page 1 Principal rock types ........................................................................................................ 5 2 Glacial geology ..............................................................................................................9 3 Mean annual rainfall ..................................................................................................... 11 4 Average number of raindays per year ........................................................................... 11 5 Diagrammatic representation of hypothetical soil profiles ............................................ 17 6 Percentages of clay, silt and sand in the basic texture