SFS16

Site: SFS 16	Land Unit: Basalt Alluvium
*Aust. Soil Class.:* Haplic, Self-mulching; Black VERTOSOL (confidence level 1)

General Land Unit Description:
This land unit consists of the smaller swamps and depression which occur on the basalt plains. Grey Vertosols tend to dominate the smaller swamps and depressions on the plains. On the other hand, Black Vertosols are commonly found in the swamps and depressions associated with the stony rise landscapes and the larger alluvial plains. Both soil types are typically sodic at depth and imperfectly drained. There are minor occurrences of Sodosols. In some areas of the basalt plain, this land unit would have been incorporated into the basalt land units.

Site Description:

Geology: Recent alluvial over Quaternary Basalt	Landform pattern: Plain
Position in landscape: Drainage depression	Internal drainage: Imperfectly drained

Soil Profile Morphology

Ap	0-20 cm	Very dark grey (10YR 3/1); heavy clay; strongly pedal; self mulching surface, polyhedral (2-20 mm); clear boundary to:
	Subsoil
B21t	20-60/70 cm	Very dark grey (10YR 3/1); heavy clay; strong prismatic (>30 cm diameter); slickensides at ped bases; clear boundary to:
B22ss	60/70-100/110 cm	Grey (5Y 5/1) with common (20%) fine to medium yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; heavy clay; prominent slickensides becoming larger (>30 cm) at depth; gradual boundary to:
B23ss	110+ cm	Pale olive (5Y 6/4) with common fine yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) mottles; heavy clay; prominent slickensides.

Key Profile Features

Clay texture through soil profile
Significant cracking when profile is dry
Prominent slickensides in subsoil

Subsoil ped

Soil Profile Characteristics

	pH	Salinity Rating	Sodicity	Dispersion
Surface soil (A1 horizon)	Strongly Acid	Low	Non-Sodic	None
Upper subsoil (B21 horizon)	Moderately Acid	Low	Non-Sodic	None¹
Deeper subsoil (at 130+ cm)	Slightly Alkaline	Medium	Sodic	None¹

¹ moderate dispersion after remoulding

Soil pit SFS16 graphs

Horizon	Horizon Depth	pH (water)	pH CaCl2	EC dS/m	NaCl %	Exchangeable Cations				Ex Al mg/kg	Ex Ac meq/100g	Field pF2.5	Wilting Point pF4.2	Coarse Sand (0.02-0.2mm)	Fine Sand (0.02-0.2mm)	Silt (0.02-0.02mm)	Clay (<0.002mm)
						Ca	Mg	K	Na
						meq/100g
Ao	10	6.0	5.3	0.23		16	18	0.68	1.5	11	21	56.1	35.6	1.7	9.6	13.5	63.0
B21	50	6.6	5.6	0.16		15	21	0.84	2.2		16	58.9	33.2	0.3	8.5	17.5	66.5
B22	90	7.5	6.8	0.41	0.07	15	26	0..7	4.4			57.9	39.8	0.3	7.7	11.5	75.0
B23	130	7.6	7.1	0.81	0.14	13	25	0.9	4.8					0.2	6.9	10.0	74.0

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