THE BROOKSTON SERIES IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO: CHARACTERISTICS, CLASSIFICATION AND PROBLEMS IN DEFINING A SOIL SERIES

Abstract

Forty-six soils originally mapped as belonging to the Brookston series were sampled in southern Ontario. Using current taxonomic criteria only 27 of the original group of soils belong to the Brookston Family. This family can now be defined as Orthic Humic Gleysol, fine clayey, illitic, alkaline, strongly calcareous, mild subaquic. Using a multivariate clustering procedure (CLUSTAN) a group of 12 soils was finally allocated to the Brookston series. The confusion between soil map units and taxonomic units and the changing concept of the soil series are largely believed responsible for the wide range in properties of the originally mapped Brookston series. Key words: Soil calssification, multivariate analysis, soil series