GL175

Australian Soil Classification: Bleached-Mottled, Eutrophic, Brown CHROMOSOL (Confidence level 1)

General Landscape Description: Undulating rises
Site Description: Lower slope with 6% slope
Land Unit: Ararat Schists
Geology: Cambrian schists
General Land Unit Description: This land unit forms the hills of metamorphic schists. The soils tend to be quite shallow, often around 60 cm in depth. There can be a bleached A2 horizon. In some cases, particularly on the steeper slopes and crests, there can be many quartz coarse fragments, usually above the clay subsoil. The most common landform is undulating rises, which this soil type represents. The soil becomes shallower and banded rock outcrops become more apparent the steeper the land. The capability of the low hills and hills land units are limited due to the slope, rock outcrops and shallow soils, as well as the susceptibility to water erosion. The gently undulating plains generally form the lower slopes of the rises and have a better capability for land use options due to a more favourable landscape and generally deeper soils.







Soil Profile Morphology:

Horizon	Depth (cm)
A1	0–30	Dark brown (10YR3/3); sandy loam; weak coarse angular blocky structure; very firm consistence, dry; pH 5.9; abrupt change to:
A2	30–45	Yellowish brown (10YR5/6), conspicuously bleached (10YR8/2d); sandy loam; massive structure; firm to very firm consistence, dry; contains many large angular quartz coarse fragments; pH 6.5; clear but wavy change to:
B2	45–60	Yellowish brown (10YR5/6), with many distinct red (2.5YR4/8) mottles; medium heavy clay; strong very coarse prismatic parting to strong coarse angular blocky structure; very firm consistence, dry; pH 7.0; changes to:
C	60–120	Weathered rock.

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl2)	EC dS/m	Organic Carbon %	Total Nitrogen %	Exchangeable Aluminium ppm	Exchangeable Acididty meq/100g	Exchangeable Cations				Coarse Sand (0.2-2.0 mm) %	Fine Sand (0.02-0.2 mm) %	Silt (0.002-0.02 mm) %	Clay (<0.002 mm) %	Field Capacity % w/w	Wilting Point % w/w
									Ca	Mg	K	Na
									meq/100g
A1	0–30	5.9	5.2	<0.05	1.7	0.12	<10	7.1	3.3	1.1	0.91	0.11	16	52	16	10	22.9	7.3
A2	30–45	6.7	5.8	<0.05				2.9	1.2	0.92	0.26	0.13	18	51	19	12	19.5	4.5
B2	45–60	7.0	6.2	0.1				0	5.5	10	0.94	0.84	3	11	9	78	46.3	27.9

• Strong texture contrast between topsoil and subsoil
• Shallow soil
• Many coarse fragments in A2 horizon
• Bleached A2 horizon
• Mottled subsoil
• A2 horizon dispersive when dry