COMPLEXITY 
Complexity class of polygon

Definition

Complexity of soil landscape attribute classes is determined from information provided on source maps and the accompanying soil reports. The concept of complexity provides an indication of attribute variability within a polygon, particularly with respect to the classes of parent material deposition modes and soil development. Three levels of complexity have been established. They provide a warning of variability to anyone interpreting the information.

Classification

CODE	CLASS	DESCRIPTION
L	Low	Soil and landscape attributes within the polygon are uniform for most interpretations; in most cases the polygon has only a dominant component.
M	Medium	Soil and landscape attributes are moderately variable but predictable; there are generally dominant and subdominant components, each of which usually have been generalized from no more than two classes of parent material or soil development, or both; there may also be an inclusion in the polygon.
H	High	Soil and landscape attributes are highly variable and unpredictable; dominant, subdominant , and inclusion components are present, each of which has been generalized from more than two classes of parent material or soil development, or both; this class indicates extreme oversimplification in any interpretations from the attribute tables.
-	not identified	Complexity was not identified.

Notes

1. Complexity infomation was found in both the DOM and SUBDOM files for any given polygon. The highest of the two values was used for this version.

    

2. For areas of the country not mapped in version 1.0, a value of "-" was assigned.

Source

This information was originally found in SLC verson 1.0. It was translated to version 2.2 using a polygon intersection approach (NSDB-ID=CAR016).

effective version 2.2  Source: adapted from Shields et al., 1991
Contact: Head, CanSIS