SOILS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND A COMPENDIUM 634.90971 l ECMF RES RN 56 BoCo FOREST SERVICERESEARC SOILS OF VANCOUVER IS-AND-A COMPENO IUM RESEARCH DIVISION BRITISH COLUMBIA FOREST SERVICE SOILS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND a compendium by N.KESER and D. ST. PIERRE Research Division RESEARCHNOTE N0.56 BRITISH COLUMBIA FOREST SERVICE 1973 PREFACE The Soils Compendium for Vancouver Island has been written and compiled by Dr. Keser andhis assistant Mr. St. Pierre ofthe ResearchDivision, British Columbia ForestService. Theyhave felt a growingneed for a practical field reference in soils - a classificaticn of data, a source of generalinformation and a concise summary of a varietyof useful detail. Theyhave made everyeffort to be factual andobjective in their compendium. It hasbeen far from an easy task. The firstobjective was to compile all theinformation on Vancouver Islandsoils but this objective was expanded toarrange information by soilinterpretation zones. Sufficient detail has also beenincluded for the professional manwho is responsiblefor more than routine application of informationand whomay wish to interpret themorphological, physical, chemical and mineralogical character- istics of soil for forest management practices. Althoughthe compendium was prepared as a helpful guide to students.foresters, and others in the forest industry, it is hoped that this work will be a useful reference to all who study the soil, land,and other resources of VancouverIsland. It providedreferences and data that are otherwise difficult to find or keep within easy reach. Thecompendium is notin its final form. It consists of soil datathat has been reported to date. But as canbe seen from the nature of thepresentation, additional information can be placedeasily in its properlocation in the compendium. New information will be supplied at periodicintervals. This new compendium is a valuable additionto the literature and justifiesthe considerable effort thathas gone into it. G .C. Warrack, Forester i/c, Research Division. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE HOW TO USE THE COMPENDIUM SOILS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND Soils of Vancouver Island Soil Interpretation Zones of Vancouver Island Soils arrangedby soil interpretation zones Soil Data-arranged alphabetically REFERENCES Selected References Related to Geology Authors and Publications Reported in the Compendium APPENDICES Appendix A. Geology and Physiography of Vancouver Island Climate of Vancouver Island Climatic records of D.O.T. stations on Vancouver Island Climatic bar graphsfor selected stations on Vancouver Is land Appendix B. System of Soil Classification for Canada The Canadian soil classification system Soil horizons and layers Soil drainage classes Classification of some Vancouver Island soils accordingto the Canadian and American systemsof soil classification Appendix C. Listing of Soils According to: Alphabetical order Parent material System of soil classification for Canada Forest productivity zones (Schmidt) Biogeoclimatic zones (Krajina) Forest regions and sections (Rowel HOW TO USE THE COMPENDIUM The following steps may beundertaken in finding the desired informationin the compendium: A. If therequired information is on a known soil I. Check thelisting 'Alphabetical Listing of Soils" to see ifthe information is available on this soil. If it is, 11. locatethe soil underthe alphabetically arranged sect ion. B. If therequired information is on soilsoccurring on a certainpart of Vancouver Island I. Obtainthe names of soils by usingthe listing suited to theobjective i.n mind,e.g., soils arranged by Biogeoclimatic zones orsoils arranged by Productivity zones, 11. locatethese soils under the alphabetically arranged section. SOILS OF VANCOUVER ISIJGVD Vancouver Islarid presents a nountainocslandscape constructed of landr'ornsresulting prir2zrii.y from the recent glaciation which covered theentire island ar.d ended 10 to 12,000 yearsago. Consequently, soil parent materials are ri:.alnly of glacial origin and consist of tills, glaciofluvialmaterials, na-rL;;L le?osits,Quadra (interglacial) sediments, organic and recent fiuvi-:lu ui;>oSlLs. The soils of VancouverIsland present a broadspectum in respect to theirnature and characteristics. Soils representingthe Podzolic Brunisolic,Regosolic, Gleysolic and Organic Orders are common. Podzolic andBrunisolic soils coverthe major part of theisland and the Regosols are minor inextent. However, theOrganic and Gleysolic soils are commonly found inthe Northern and Western coastal plains. The soilsof the island, except for the east coast, are notstudied in full extent. However, soilsurvey is presentlybeing carried out by theBritish Columbia Land Inventory(B.C.L.I.). TAXONONIC CORRELATION AT THE ORDER LEVEL CAh7liDIAN u.s .A. WORLD (1970) (7 th X2prox. ) (Present) Chernozenic Borolls(minor Rendolls) Kastanozems Chernozems(minor Rendzinas) Solonetzic Natric greatgroups Solonetz Luvisolic Alfisols,Boralfs, Udalfs Luvisols,Albic Luvisols Podzolic Spodosols (Humods, Orthods) Podzols Brunisolic Inceptisols Cambisols Regosolic Entisols Fluvisols & Rhegosols Gleysolic Aqu-suborders Gleysols & Planosols Organic Histosols Histisols SOIL INTERPRETATIONZONES OF VANCOUVER ISLAND The soil interpretation zones of Vancouver Island are basically ecosystem zones (soil-ecosystem) delineated primarily on the basisof landform, soil, climate and forest types. These zones are tentative and were developed by synthesizing the information given by the following sources: Landforms of British Columbia (Holland,1964) Forest Regions of Canada (Rowe, 1959) Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia (Krajina, 1959; 1964) Climate of British Columbia Tablesof temperature, precipitation and sunshine. (B. C. Department of Agriculture, 1958-71) Soil Surveyof Southeast Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands, British Columbia (Day, Farstad and Laird,1959) Cryic Zone (Sub-alpine and alpine) was delineatedR. Schmidt*by B. C. Forest Service Ecologist who has considerable personal experience and knowledgeon the distribution of sub-alpine and alpine zones on Vancouver Island, Personal experienceof the authors who have been working on the various aspects of Vancouver Island soils during the past ten years. The developed zones are as follows(See map 1: 1. CRYZC ZONE (Sub-alpine and alpine) 2. MAJOR VALLEY SYSTEMS, The zone of Major Valley Systems is divided into subzones: (a1 San Juan-Cowichan; (b 1 Alberni; and (c) Nimpkish. 3. NAHWITTI LOWLAND 4. SUQUASH BASIN 5. ESTEVAN COASTAL PLAIN 6. EAST MOUNTAIN ZONE -/. WEST MOUNTAIN ZONE 8. UPPER NANAIMO LOWLAND 0. LOWER NANAINO LOWLAND I * Forester 2 i/c Research Division, B.C. Forest Service, Victoria,B. C. Tt: is envisaged that the soil occurring in one zone will have certainfeatures characteristic to that zone andthe management interpretation of these soil features wil?. be restricted to this zone.Direct transfer of information and interpretation amonF: the zone.; ma;y be undertakenprovided that validity of suchtransformation has i)een already! established. It is hoped thatthe presented tentative soil interpretationzones will be refined as more information is accumulated on ~rheenvironmental parameters of each zone. S OILS ARRANGED BY SOIL INTERPRETATION ZONES MAJOR VALLEY SYSTEMS: Alberni clay (I) PortAlberni Plot 7 Alberni clay (I1) Port Alberni Plot 8 Arrowsmith peat Port Alberni Plot 9 Cass idy complex Port Alberni Plot 28 Chemainuscomplex PortAlberni Plot ?n Cowichan clay loam PortAlberni Plot 31 PortRenfrew PortAlberni Plot 48 Somassloamy sand PortAlberni Plot 49 Sproatgravelly sandy loam PortAlberni Plot 50 Stamp gravelly loam woss camp ESTEVANCOASTAL PLAIN: Kootowis Wreck Bay (I1 1 KennedyLake Ucluelet I Sandhill Ucluelet I1 Tof ino Ucluelet I11 Wreck Bay (1 1 Ucluelet EAST MOUNTAIN ZONE: Arrowsmith peat RoachLogging Plot 19 Cassidycomplex RoachLogging Plot 27 RoachLogging Plot 17 RoachLogging Plot 28 RoachLogging Plot 18 WESTMOUNTAIN ZONE: Arrowsmith peat Jeune Landing I! I! ['PER NANAIMO LOWLANDS : Arrowsmith peat Mcmekay Bowscr loam:, sand Merville loam Cass irly complex Neptunegravelly loam,y sand Chemainus complex Parksvi.llesandy loam Cowichan clay loam Puntledge silt loam Custer loamy sand Quadro Dashwood gravell<y loamy sand Qualicum loamy sand Fairbridge silt loam Quinsam Gos 1j ng Royston gravelly loam Hart S andwick gravelly loam :laslam complex S en ton Kye loamysand S hawnigan gravelly sandg loam Lazo sandy loam Tolmicsandy clay loam Haslam complex Langford loam Lazosandy loam Lower PaldiPlot ? Mervi lle loam Metchosin muck Neptunegravelly loamy sand Parksville sand>[ loam Puntledge silt ioam Qualicurn loamy sand Qu insam Saanichtm c1a.v Shawniyan ;;ravel I.;,, sandy loam Sproat gravc1l;y. sandy 1 cam Tt~Lmiesandy clay loam ITpper Paldi Plot '1 A ALBERNI CLAY (I1 LOCATION: AlberniBasin (9705 acres) CLIMATE : Mean Temperature (OF ) Mean Precipitation(inches) Annua 1: 49 Annual : 66.29 Jan. : 35 April-July : 2.11 July : 65 May -Sept.: 1.69 VEGETATION: MainlyDouglas fir, hemlockand red cedar. Fern, bracken, salal, Oregon grape. TOPOGRAPHY: Irregularvery gently sloping. The surface is hummocky probably I due to uprooting trees. DRAINAGE: Well drained;permeability is moderatein the B horizonbut very slowin the C. PARENT MATERIAL: Fine - texturedmarine sediments. CLASSIFICATION: Concretionary Brown; (Bisequa Mini. Humo-FerricPodzol, 1970 ). PROFILEDESCRIPTION: H orizon DepthHorizon inches A0 2- 0 Slightly decomposedremains of moss, needles, leavesand wood. pH 5.2. B, 1 0- 7 Reddish brown (5 YR 4/4 dry)clay of compound strong coarse granular and moderate medium sub- angularblocky