Murtoa Clay

Map Symbol: Mc

Australian Soil Classification: Various Epipedal and Massive, Grey VERTOSOLS.
Northcote Factual Key: Codes include Ug 5.24, Ug 5.28 and Ug 5.29.
Great Soil Group: grey clays.

Geology: Late Pleistocene to Holocene. However, the soil unit also occurs on late Tertiary to Quaternary flood plains and minor areas on Tertiary (late Miocene to Pliocene) sediments.

Landform: Level areas on the flood plain landscapes and local depressions and drainage lines on these and other landscapes.

Occurrence: Murtoa clay occurs as a dominant mapping unit on the prior stream flood plain and on the river frontage landscape units and as a co-dominant soil unit on the flood plain and Black Box flats landscape units. It also occurs in local depressions, on the eroded ridge crest, gently undulating plains, dune and swale, high plains and lake and lunette landscape units as a sub-dominant mapping unit on the sand plain landscape. Relatively large areas of the Murtoa clay mapping unit occurs in the vicinity of Burnt Creek north of the Western Highway, on the river frontage landscape unit immediately north east of Horsham and near the Yarriambiack and Corkers Creeks east of Longerenong.

Representative Soil Type: Site IS13

Vegetation: Savanna woodland, Black Box (E. largiflorens) and Grey Box (E. microcarpa) associations as well as the grassland formation, Spear Grass (Stipa species) and Wallaby Grass (Danthonia species) may have occupied areas of this soil unit.

Generalised Soil Description:

Surface Soil