25 Yellow and brown strongly acidic mottled texture contrast and gradational (earth) soils on Palaeozoic sediments

These soils occur in the Western Uplands south of Ballarat and on the north-eastern edge of the CMA, where rainfall is quite high.

These soils have shallow surface organic silty loam to silty clay loam soils underlain by conspicuously bleached subsurface (A2) horizons, or a transition at about 30 cm into a pale yellow mottled silty light clay subsoil which grades into weathered thinly bedded sediments. Lower slopes and colluvial slopes have darker subsoils (pale brown) which are still mottled and more likely to be texture contrast and have sandier surface soils (loamy sand) than those soils on higher topographic positions on (weathered) rock.

Notable characteristics include: high silt content, erosion prone, strongly acidic and hence low nutrient availability, generally shallow organic surface soil, gradational increase in clay with depth on upper slopes, and texture contrast on lower colluvial slopes.

Soil Sites

Site Code	Soil-landform unit	Component	ASC	FK	1:100 000 mapsheet
BD10	1	Upper slope	Bleached-Sodic, Mesonatric, Yellow Kurosol	Dy2.71	T7722 - Bacchus Marsh
CLRA53	3	Mid slope	Acidic-Mottled, Dystrophic, Yellow Dermosol	Gn3.71	T7723 - Castlemaine
CLRA54	3	Crest	Acidic-Mottled, Magnesic, Brown Dermosol	Gn3.91	T7723 - Castlemaine
CLRA57	2	Crest	Bleahed-Mottled, Dystrophic, Yellow Dermosol	Gn3.71	T7722 - Bacchus Marsh
CLRA58	9	Crest	Bleached-Sodic, Magnesic, Brown Kurosol	Dy3.41	T7622 - Ballarat

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