Skip to main content

Story: Soils

Soils of the North Island

Image
Soils of the North Island

This map shows the locations of the main soil types in the North Island. Most noticeably, Granular and Oxidic soils are limited to the warmer Northland and South Auckland regions, and Allophanic and Pumice soils derived from volcanic ash are concentrated in the central part of the island.

Using this item

Landcare Research – Manaaki Whenua

Source: Les Molloy, Soils in the New Zealand landscape: the living mantle. 2nd ed. Lincoln: New Zealand Society of Soil Science, 1998, p. 230

© Copyright image. All rights reserved. Permission from Manaaki Whenua: Landcare Research New Zealand Limited must be obtained before the re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Allan Hewitt, Soils – Diversity and uniqueness, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/12300/soils-of-the-north-island (accessed 13 June 2026).

Story by Allan Hewitt, published 1 March 2009.