Description: Soils lay in a complex mosaic across Minnesota. This mosaic is not random, but is the result of the blending of the effects of five major environmental elements. The five elements that lead to the pattern of soils that we observe are the geologic material from which the soils originally formed (the parent material); the climate in the area in which the material is found; properties of the landscape upon which that material lay, such as its slope and aspect (relief); the plans and animals (organisms) that can potentially live on or in the material; and the length of time during which the previous four elements have interacted. This generalized view of the Minnesota landscape results in this data set. The polygons were delineated based on the above five characteristics and originally produced on a map commonly referred to as the Cummings/Grigal Soils Map.