SFS 10
Location: Wickliffe, Settlement Road
Aust. Soil Class.:Vertic, Mesonatric, Grey and Black SODOSOL
Site Description: Barley paddock
 SFS 10 |
Soil Profile Morphology:
| Surface Soil |  SFS 10 | ||
| Ap | 0-15 cm | Dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4 moist) with light brownish grey (10YR 6/2 dry) mottles; weakly pedal, crumb (<10 mm); weak to firm consistence; pH 5.5 abrupt and wavy change to: | |
| A2 | 15-25/40 cm (in places) | Greyish brown (10YR 5/2 moist) conspicuously bleached (10YR 6/1 dry); fine sandy clay loam; apedal; pH 6.2; gradual change to: | |
| Subsoil | |||
| B1 | 35-60 cm (where present) | Greyish brown (10YR 5/2 moist) with grey to white (10YR 6/1-8/1 dry) mottles; with prominent, frequent (5-10 mm intervals); fine sandy clay loam; vertical pores (2 mm) infilled with darker light brownish grey (10YR 6/2) material; many fine pores (<1 mm); apedal; very hard consistence; pH 6.6; abrupt change to: | |
| B21t | 15-25/40-100 cm | Very dark greyish brown (2.5Y 3/2) becoming olive brown (2.5Y 4/2) at depth; medium clay; deep wide cracks, 30-40 cm apart; extremely tough and rigid but sticky at base of cracks; pH 7.3 becoming pH 8.7 at 60-80 cm depth. | |
Key Profile Features:
- Strong texture contrast between surface (A) horizons and subsoil (B21) horizon.
- Conspicuously bleached surface (A2) horizon.
Soil Profile Characteristics:
pH | Salinity Rating | |||
Surface (A1 horizon) | Strongly Acid | Very Low | Non-Sodic | None |
Subsoil (B21 horizon) | Slightly Alkaline | Low | Strongly Sodic | Strong-Complete |
Deeper subsoil (at 80 cm) | Strongly Alkaline | Low-Medium | Strongly Sodic | Strong-Complete |
 |
Horizon | Horizon Depth (cm) | pH (water) | pH (CaCl2) | EC dS/m | NaCl | Exchangeable Cations | |||
Ca | Mg | K | Na | ||||||
meq/100g | |||||||||
Ap | 0-8 | 5.5 | 4.7 | 0.12 |  | 4.5 | 3 | 0.26 | 0.51 |
A2 | 15-25 | 6.2 | 4.7 | <0.05 | | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.15 | 0.46 |
B1 | 40-60 | 6.6 | 5 | 0.08 | | 2.8 | 4.6 | 0.27 | 2 |
B21t | 20-40 | 7.3 | 6 | 0.23 | | 6.8 | 12 | 0.99 | 4.9 |
B21t | 60-80 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 0.49 | 0.06 | 6.8 | 14 | 1 | 7.8 |
B21 | 20-40 | 7.6 | 6.5 | 0.3 | 0.01 | 6.7 | 11 | 1.2 | 5 |
Horizon | Horizon Depth (cm) | Exchangeable Aluminium mg/kg | Exchangeable Acidity meq/100g | Field Capacity pF2.5 | Wilting Point pF4.2 | Coarse Sand (0.2-2.0 mm) | Fine Sand (0.02-0.2 mm) | Silt (0.002-0.02 mm) | Clay (<0.002 mm) |
Ap | 0-8 | 58 | 10 | 25.6 | 10.8 | 7.2 | 42.7 | 22.5 | 22.5 |
A2 | 15-25 | <10 | 4.7 | 20.9 | 6.2 | 6 | 48.6 | 24.5 | 17.5 |
B1 | 40-60 | | 6.9 | 26.4 | 12.3 | 6.2 | 41.2 | 21 | 30 |
B21t | 20-40 | | 7 | 43.3 | 23.8 | 2.3 | 26.6 | 13 | 52.5 |
B21t | 60-80 | | 2.8 | 44.8 | 25.4 | 2.5 | 23.7 | 14.5 | 55.5 |
B21 | 20-40 | | 9.1 | 53.3 | 32 | 1.5 | 11.8 | 9 | 73 |
Management Considerations:
Whole Profile
- Plant available water capacity (PAWC) is considered to be low (estimated at 86 mm) in the upper 70 cm of this soil profile. Effective rooting depth (ERD) is restricted to 70 cm due to the highly sodic subsoils (ESP>20).
- Cracking to surface, very tough to dig. Could not pick back with geopick
- Soil profile described by, Richard MacEwan, May 1999.
© State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) 1996 - .
This work, Victorian Resources Online, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms.
The licence does not apply to ‘branding’ or some ‘images or photographs’ that may be owned by third parties. We ask you to seek prior approval to use images using the VRO feedback form. Access to higher quality images can also be provided on request.
This page was last updated on .