Soils of Beaver Meadows

The Kabetogama Peninsula is underlain by dipping beds of biotite schist bedrock that form ridges and valleys which focus land surface runoff. A variety of glacial deposits that influence soil properties are superimposed upon this bedrock base. Soils derived from glaciolacustrine deposits have pedogenic carbonates and a high clay content (>30% clay), whereas soils derived from glaciofluvial deposits have a low carbonate content and are sandy. Analysis of soils from well boreholes within a single beaver meadow showed textures ranging from sandy loam (mean phi size = 3.59) to clay (mean phi size = 7.31). The soil survey for the Kabetogama Peninsula maps beaver impoundments primarily as Sax-Tacoosh complex, ponded.