SW88

Location: Winchelsea	Australian Soil Classification: Vertic (& Calcareous), Sodosolic, Redoxic, HYDROSOL
General Landscape Description: Gently undulating rises on basalt plain	Site Description: Low lying flat depression in minor alluvium
Geology: Quaternary-Newer Volcanics

SW88 Landscape

Soil Profile Morphology:

Surface Soil

A1	0-8 cm	Dark brown (10YR3/3 moist and 10YR4/2 dry); fine sandy loam, weakly pedal; firm consistence; pH 5.7:	SW88 Profile - Note: Surface horizons have been stripped from the soil profile
A2	8-15/18 cm	Possible A2 (incipient) but not clear in trench; abrupt change to:
Subsoil
B21g	15/18-50 cm	Very dark brown (10YR2/2 moist) with greyish brown (10YR5/2 moist) and brownish yellow (10YR6/8 moist) (50%) gleyed interiors; sandy light clay in upper part of horizon to light medium clay, [sandy] deeper down and in ped interiors; very coarse (>150 mm) prismatic structure; massive; firm to very firm consistence; pH 8.1; clear or gradual change to:
B22g	50-80 cm	Dark grey (10YR4/1 moist) with many (>50%) grey (10YR5/1 moist) and yellow (10YR7/8) mottles; medium clay; fine pedal structure, polyhedral to very fine lenticular structure, shiny ped faces; pH 8.7; clear or gradual change to:
B23gt	80-110 cm	Black (10YR2/1 moist) ped faces; many (~80%), pinkish grey (7.5YR6/2 moist) and brownish yellow (10YR6/8) mottles; medium clay; structure tending to medium (<50 mm) prismatic; pH 8.9; clear change to:
B24g	110-180 cm+	Greyish green (5G4/2 moist) and light olive brown (2.5Y5/3 moist), strongly gleyed; sandy clay; fine yellowish brown (10YR5/8 moist) mottles; apedal; strongly developed large (~10 mm) biopores, 50-120 mm apart; minor (<2%), soft calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) and isolated calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) nodules; pH 8.3.

South West Gasp Pipeline GP88 Gley detail showing biopores and redoximorphic features (B24g horizon)
Gley detail showing biopores and redoximorphic features (B24g horizon)

Key Profile Features:

Shallow surface horizons.
Strong texture contrast between surface (A) horizons and subsoil (B21) horizon.
Vertic features (i.e. lenticular peds) in deeper subsoil.

Soil Profile Characteristics:

	pH	Salinity Rating	Sodicity	Dispersion
Surface (A1 horizon)	Moderately Acid	Medium	Non-Sodic	None
Subsoil (B21 horizon)	Moderately Alkaline	High	Strongly Sodic	Slight¹
Deeper subsoil (at 90-105 cm)	Strongly Alkaline	Extremely High	Strongly Sodic	None²
¹ strong dispersion after remoulding ² probably due to high level of soluble salts.

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl₂)	EC 1:5	NaCl %	Exchangeable Cations
						Ca	Mg	K	Na
						meq/100g
A1	0-10	5.7	5	0.28	0.03	4.4	3.9	0.9	0.2
B21	30-50	8.1	7.4	0.76	0.16	3.1	10	0.8	2.7
B22	60-80	8.7	8.2	1.4	0.33	3.1	14	1	5.1
B23	90-105	8.9	9.3	1.2	0.3	23	11	0.5	4
B24	110-150	8.3	8.5	0.67	0.14

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	Ex Al mg/kg	Ex Ac meq/100g	Field 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	0-10	<10	10	18.3	10.3	23.3	49	8.5	13.5
B21	30-50			29.9	14.4	16.6	45	5.5	31
B22	60-80			37.5	18.3	10.1	43.1	7.5	37.5
B23	90-105			31.2	14.2	25.8	37.7	4	30.5
B24	110-150

Management Considerations:

Whole Profile

The profile is likely to be saturated for a number of months during most years.

Subsoil (B) Horizons

The high level of soluble salts in the subsoil is likely to restrict the growth of salt sensitive species.

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