DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17793697
title: Canada1Water hydraulic parametrized integrated soil, bedrock and peatlands dataset: Soilmap 1: 000to050cm

description: Abstract: The Canada1Water (C1W) initiative is a national-scale effort to model Canada’s hydrologic cycle, integrating groundwater, surface water, and climate influences across continental Canada and shared watersheds with the United States. Soil, bedrock, and peatlands critically connect atmospheric processes, vegetation, and hydrology. Infiltration and recharge are governed by the hydraulic properties and topographic and pressure gradients, making accurate representation of surficial substrates essential in hydrological modelling. For continental-scale groundwater–surface water modelling in Canada, a 7-layer hydrostratigraphic framework was developed, with the upper two soil layers being 0–0.5 m and 0.5–1.0 m below ground surface.

National coverage of mineral soils was derived from the global OpenLandMap dataset at 250 m resolution, using soil texture, bulk density, and water content at 33 and 1500 kPa from six depth intervals. These inputs were vertically averaged into two soil layers and parameterized using Rosetta v3 pedotransfer function approaches to derive residual and saturated water content, van Genuchten parameters (α and n), and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Exposed bedrock was explicitly mapped using a combination of land cover classification (NALCMS v2015 barren land and snow/ice classes) and national-scale surficial geology datasets, with depth-dependent expansion of bedrock extent in the lower soil layer. Peatlands were delineated using peatland extent products and OpenLandMap soil organic carbon content, producing a three-dimensional peat model classified into moderately decomposed, decomposed, and well-decomposed peat, each assigned depth-dependent hydraulic properties based on published literature.

The final product is an 18-band raster GeoTIFF, comprising OpenLandMap soil attributes, Rosetta-derived hydraulic parameters, and specific classifications for bedrock and peatlands. The dataset provides seamless 250 m resolution coverage across all Canadian provinces and territories and extends into transboundary watersheds with the United States. By integrating mineral soils, bedrock outcrops, and peatlands into its comprehensive hydraulic parameterization, this dataset is ideally suited for supra-regional hydrological modelling.

Read the full Data in Brief for methodology here: Kessel, E. D., Frey, S. K., Lapen, D. R., & Geng, X. (2026).  Canada1Water: Hydraulic parametrized integrated soil, bedrock and peatlands datasets. Data in Brief, 112636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2026.112636 Visit the Canada1Water Data Portal here: https://portal.canada1water.ca/
description: README.txt

Output Raster Bands

BAND Variable Unit

OpenLandMap Variables

01 Bulk Density g/cm3

02 Soil Texture (Mineral USDA Classification)

03 Sand %

04 Silt %

05 Clay %

06 WC33kpa -

07 WC1500kpa -

Rosetta v3 Variables

08 Residual WaterContent cm3/cm3

09 Saturated WaterContent cm3/cm3

10 alpha 1/cm

11 npar

12 Ksat cm/day

13 Ksat m/s

Canada1Water Use Variables (adding bedrock and wetlands)

14 Soil Texture (Canada1Water Classification)

15 Porosity/Saturated WaterContent cm3/cm3

16 Ksat cm/day

17 Ksat m/s

18 Peatland/Bedrock Flag (0=no mask, 1=mask)

 

SoilTextureStyle_1to12.qml for QGIS

<ColorMap>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#d5c36b" label="Cl" opacity="1.0" quantity="1"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#b96947" label="SiCl" opacity="1.0" quantity="2"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#9d3706" label="SaCl" opacity="1.0" quantity="3"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#ae868f" label="ClLo" opacity="1.0" quantity="4"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#f86714" label="SiClLo" opacity="1.0" quantity="5"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#46d143" label="SaClLo" opacity="1.0" quantity="6"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#368f20" label="Lo" opacity="1.0" quantity="7"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#3e5a14" label="SiLo" opacity="1.0" quantity="8"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#ffd557" label="SaLo" opacity="1.0" quantity="9"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#fff72e" label="Si" opacity="1.0" quantity="10"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#ff5a9d" label="LoSa" opacity="1.0" quantity="11"/>

                            <ColorMapEntry color="#ff005b" label="Sa" opacity="1.0" quantity="12"/>

<ColorMapEntry color="#ffffff" label="NODATA" opacity="0.0" quantity="255"/>        

 

Dataset References

Commission for Environmental Cooperation. "2015 Land Cover of North America at 30 Meters", North American Land Change Monitoring System, Ed. 2.0. 2020. 

Geological Survey of Canada, Canadian Geoscience Map 195, 2014, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/295462 

Tomislav Hengl. (2018a). Soil bulk density (fine earth) 10 x kg / m-cubic at 6 standard depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m resolution (v0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2525665 

Tomislav Hengl. (2018b). Sand content in % (kg / kg) at 6 standard depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m resolution (v0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2525662 

Tomislav Hengl. (2018c). Clay content in % (kg / kg) at 6 standard depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m resolution (v0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2525663 

Tomislav Hengl. (2018d). Soil texture classes (USDA system) for 6 soil depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m (v0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2525817 

Tomislav Hengl. (2018e). Soil texture classes (USDA system) for 6 soil depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m (Version v02) [Data set]. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.1475451

Tomislav Hengl, & Surya Gupta. (2019). Soil water content (volumetric %) for 33kPa and 1500kPa suctions predicted at 6 standard depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m resolution (v0.1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2784001

Tomislav Hengl, & Ichsani Wheeler. (2018). Soil organic carbon content in x 5 g / kg at 6 standard depths (0, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) at 250 m resolution (v0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2525553

Melton, J. R., Chan, E., Millard, K., Fortier, M., Winton, R. S., Martín-López, J. M., Cadillo-Quiroz, H., Kidd, D., and Verchot, L. V.: A map of global peatland extent created using machine learning (Peat-ML), Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4709–4738, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4709-2022 

References 

Boelter, D. H., Hydraulic Conductivity of Peats. Soil Science 100(4):p 227-231, October 1965.

Boelter, D.H. 1968. Important physical properties of peat materials. In: Proceedings, third internationalpeat congress; 1968 August 18-23; Quebec, Canada. [Place of publication unknown]: Department of Engery, Minds and Resources and National Research Council of Canada: 150-154.

Freeze, R.A. and Cherry, J.A. (1979) Groundwater. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, Vol. 7632, 604.

Frey, S. K., Russell, H. A. J. & Kirkwood, A. (2024). Canada1Water research and development phase 1 report. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File, 9190, 38. https://doi.org/10.4095/p5mq5bduv7

Lennartz, B., & Liu, H. (2019). Hydraulic functions of peat soils and ecosystem service. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 7. 92. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00092

Morris, P. J., Davies, M. L., Baird, A. J., Balliston, N., Bourgault, M.-A., Clymo, R. S., et al. (2022). Saturated hydraulic conductivity in northern peats inferred from other measurements. Water Resources Research, 58(11), e2022WR033181. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033181 

Soil Classification Working Group. 1998. The Canadian System of Soil Classification, 3rd ed. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Publication 1646, 187 pp.

Tarnocai, C., I.M. Kettles and B. Lacelle. 2011. Peatlands of Canada; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 6561 (digital database); CD-ROM.

van Genuchten, M.Th. 1980. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44:892–898

Zhang, Y., and M.G. Schaap. 2017. Weighted recalibration of the Rosetta pedotransfer model with improved estimates of hydraulic parameter distributions and summary statistics (Rosetta3). Journal of Hydrology 547: 39-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.01.004