Soil Texture Distribution Map for Alberta Agriculture

A geospatial map illustrates the distribution of soil parent material textures across Alberta's agricultural region. The map classifies soil textures based on the relative proportions of sand, silt, and clay particles using a standard Soil Texture Triangle. This resource was created by the Government of Alberta in 2002 using ArcGIS.

Use Cases

• Classify soil textural class from the intersection of percent sand and percent clay coordinates on the Soil Texture Triangle.
• Estimate percent silt content by calculating the remainder after summing sand and clay percentages to reach 100 percent.
• Analyze regional patterns of soil parent material textures for agricultural zoning and soil conservation planning.
• Integrate soil texture classes with other land data layers for precision agriculture and environmental impact assessments.

Strengths

• Provides a standardized classification using the established Soil Texture Triangle methodology.
• Covers the entire agricultural region of Alberta, offering broad spatial coverage.
• Data is provided via multiple access methods including WMS and ESRI REST services.

Limitations

• The underlying data is from 2002 and may not reflect current soil conditions.
• Specific row counts, column details, and sample data are unavailable for quantitative analysis.
• The map is specific to Alberta's agricultural zone, limiting generalizability to other regions.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta

Collection Method

Created using ArcGIS software.

Time Range

Data creation date is 2002.

Freshness

The dataset metadata was last updated in March 2026, but the core data creation date is 2002.

Geography

Agricultural region of Alberta, Canada.