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SW76

Location: Tulloh

Australian Soil Classification: Vertic, Mottled-Subnatric, Brown SODOSOL

General Landscape Description: Undulating low hills.
Site Description: Waxing upper slope, 10%, eastern aspect.
Geology: Tertiary sediments (either Dilwyn or Eastern View Formation.


Soil Profile Morphology:


Surface Soil


A10-15 cmVery dark gray (10YR3/1 moist), gray (10YR 5/1 dry); sandy loam; weakly pedal; pH 5.5:
South West Gasp Pipeline SW76 Profile
SW76 Profile. Note: Surface (A1) horizon has been stripped from the soil profile.
A21ec15-50 cmgrayish brown (10YR5/2 moist), conspicuously bleached (10YR7/1 dry); sandy loam; apedal, massive; minor small buckshot (breaking with moderate force); pH 5.6; abrupt change to:
A2250-70/80 cmYellowish brown (10YR5/6 moist), brownish yellow (10YR6.5/6 dry); apedal; sporadic bleach; pH 5.9; clear change to:
Subsoil

B21tss70/80-135 cmMottled strong brown (7.5YR5/8 moist), yellowish brown (10YR5/4 moist), brown cutans (10YR5/3 moist); heavy clay; vertic; very coarse blocky structure [80-100 mm]; some very large slickensides, up to 1 m across; pH 6.0; gradual change to:
B22tg135 cm+ Dark gray (10YR4/1 moist) and white (10YR8/1 moist); heavy clay; red mottles (10R4/8 moist); polyhedral structure; slickensides (50-150 mm); pH 5.4.

Key Profile Features:
  • Deep, conspicuously bleached subsurface (A2) horizons.
  • Strong texture contrast between surface (A) horizons and subsoil (B2) horizon.
  • Vertic features (i.e. slickensides) in subsoil.

Soil Profile Characteristics:

pH
Salinity Rating
Surface
(A1 horizon)
Strongly Acid
Low
Non-Sodic
None
Subsoil
(B21 horizon)
Moderately Acid
Very Low
Marginally Sodic
*
Deeper Subsoil
(at 110+ cm)
Strongly Acid
Very Low
-
*
* No results


Image: SW76 Graphs

The surface soil is strongly acid. The subsoil is moderately acid becoming strongly acid with depth.Salinity rating is low in the surface becoming very low in the subsoil.
    The soil is non sodic in the surface becoming marginally sodic in the subsoil.
The clay content increases markedly at the A/B boundary.

Horizon
Sample Depth
(cm)
pH
(water)
pH
(CaCl2)
EC
1:5
NaCl
%
Exchangeable Cations
Ca
Mg
K
Na
meq/100g
A1
0-15
5.5
4.8
0.11
2.9
1.2
0.41
0.2
A21ec
30-45
5.6
4.7
<0.05
1.2
0.87
<0.05
0.1
A22
55-70
5.9
4.9
<0.05
0.7
2.1
<0.05
0.32
B21tss
90-120
6
5
0.12
2.3
9
0.1
1.4
B21tg
150-170
5.4
4.5
0.14
0.02

Horizon
Sample Depth
(cm)
Exchangeable Aluminium
mg/kg
Organic Carbon
%
Nitrogen
%
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)
A1
0-15
49
5.3
0.39
17
30.1
11.1
14
38
19
17
A21ec
30-45
32
8.6
19.7
5.9
16
44
21
15
A22
55-70
<10
4
19.8
8.1
16
41
17
25
B21tss
90-120
28
10
5
10
6
74
B21tg
150-170


Management Considerations:

Subsoil (B) Horizons

  • The subsoil displays vertic features (i.e. slickensides) which indicates that significant shrinking and swelling occurs during wetting and drying cycles. This may have engineering implications and is likely to explain the variability in surface horizon depth across the trench.

Notes
  • Gleying in subsoil increases down slope from profile.

Profile Described By: Richard McEwan (April 1999).
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