There are five primary types of surficial deposits on Southern Vancouver Island. Colluvial deposits are materials that consist of mixed fragments of bedrock transported by gravity or mass wasting. Fluvial deposits are materials that consist of mixed fragments of bedrock, gravel, sand, and silt transported by flowing water. Marine deposits are materials that consist of fine sediment, sand, and gravel deposited in salt or brackish water bodies. Morainal deposits are materials that consist of sand, silt, clay, and coarse fragments of bedrock transported by glacial ice.
Organic deposits are materials that consist of accumulations of local vegetation.
The classification of the soils and the soil associations are illustrated in Figure 4. The soil parent materials and the soil forming processes determine the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil materials. These characteristics are summarized in Table 2. Characteristics of Brunisols and Podzols. In addition to soil classification at the level of soil Order and Great Group, the soils are classified by soil associations, which provides detailed information about the physical properties and characteristics of the soil as listed in Table 3.