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SW53

Location: Cooriemungle.

Australian Soil Classification: Vertic (& Sodic), Calcic, Grey CHROMOSOL

Geology: Gellibrand Marl.
Land Use: Dairy cattle grazing.

Image:  SW53 Landscape
SW53 Landscape.

Soil Profile Morphology:

Surface Soil

A10-15 cmVery dark greyish brown (10YR3/2); silty clay loam; weakly pedal; fine to medium polyhedral structure; pH 5.7; abrupt and smooth change to:

Image:  SW53 Profile
SW53 profile.

Note: Surface (A) horizon has been stripped from the soil profile.
Subsoil

B21g15-60/70 cmDark greyish brown (2.5Y4/2) with common yellowish brown (10YR5/8) mottles; medium clay; coarse polyhedral, parting to fine to medium polyhedral structure; pH 5.7; gradual and wavy change to:

B22g60/70-105/115 cmLight olive brown (2.5Y5/4) and grey (2.5Y5/1); medium to heavy clay; coarse polyhedral or angular blocky, parting to fine to medium polyhedral structure; slickensides (>20 mm in size); pH 7.4; abrupt and irregular change to:

B23kgss105/115-160+ cmLight olive grey (5Y6/2) with common yellowish brown (10YR5/8) mottles; heavy clay; very coarse angular blocky, parting to coarse polyhedral or angular blocky, and fine to mediumlenticular structure; soft white extremely coarse (100 mm in size) calcareous accumulations at top of horizon; slickensides (>100 mm); pH 8.9.

Key Profile Features:
  • Strong texture contrast between surface (A) horizon and subsoil (B21) horizon.
  • Vertic properties (slickensides present) in deeper subsoil.

Soil Profile Characteristics:


pH

Salinity Rating
Surface
(A1 horizon)
Moderately Acid
Low
Non-Sodic
None
Subsoil
(B21 horizon)
Moderately Acid
Low
Non-Sodic
None
Deeper Subsoil
(at 70- 105 cm)
Slightly Alkaline
Low
Sodic
Strong1
1 Complete dispersion after remoulding.

Image:  SW53 Graphs
The surface and upper subsoil is moderately acid. The subsoil at 1 metre is slightly alkaline becoming strongly alkaline at depth.Salinity rating is low down to 1 metre and increases to medium at depth.The surface and upper subsoil is non-sodic becoming sodic in the deeper subsoil.Clay content increases markedly at the surface / subsoil boundary.Exchangeable Aluminium increases to very high levels in the subsoil.

Horizon
Horizon Depth
(cm)
pH
(water)
pH
(CaCl2)
EC
(dS/m)
NaCl
%
Exchangeable Cations
Ca
Mg
K
Na
meq/100g
A1
0-15
5.7
4.9
0.11
8.8
3.8
0.63
0.48
B21
15-60/70
5.7
4.5
0.1
8.5
9.4
0.51
1.2
B22
60/70-105/115
7.4
6.2
0.16
16
13
0.43
3.2
B23
105/115-160
8.9
8.9
0.77
0.09
16
14
2.9
5.8


Horizon
Horizon Depth
(cm)
Oxidisable
Organic Carbon
%
Total
Nitrogen
%
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)
A1
0-15
4.2
0.3
13
15
39
17
7
25
30
27
B21
15-60/70
240
13
45
24
1
17
19
59
B22
60/70-105/115
53
26
1
12
18
65
B23
105/115-160

Management Considerations:

Surface (A) Horizon
  • In its natural state the surface soil is well structured and strongly pedal. The description here "weakly pedal" is a reflection of the damaged caused by pugging, a common winter effect in the Heytsbury district.
Subsoil (B) Horizons
  • The level of exchangeable aluminium measured in this horizon is high. This may restrict the growth of aluminium sensitive species.

Profile Described By: Mark Imhof and Richard MacEwan (March 1999).
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