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8 Deep sands and sand over clay on older dunes and reworked sediments on Quaternary aeolian sediments

These soils occur on the Bellarine Peninsula south of Portarlington as well as other coastal and inland locations.

These soils have a dark weakly structured sandy loam surface soil (10–20 cm) overlying a bleached apedal (unconsolidated) sand or loamy sand (to 30–60+ cm) abruptly overlying a coarse strongly structured red and yellow mottled medium clay grading into a mottled sandy clay (to 100 cm) and then into a clayey fine sand (to 150+ cm). Occasionally, a thin dark structured light clay may lie between the bleached subsurface horizon and the mottled medium clay, forming a weak organic argillic (clay) pan. The surface and subsurface horizons are strongly acidic with greater alkalinity with depth; the underlying clayey fine sand sediments being slightly alkaline (pH 7.7). The sand depth may be greater than 150 cm in many instances (i.e. dune crests).

Notable characteristics include: texture and consistency contrast, weak consistence of upper sandy soil, binding ability of surface soil organic matter, clay accumulation/pans at depth over older sediments, and strongly acidic sands over alkaline clayey sands.
CLRA Soil Unit 8


Soil Sites

Site Code
Soil-landform unit
Component
ASC
FK
1:100 000 mapsheet
Lower dune slope
Eutrophic, Mottled-Subnatric, Yellow Sodosol
Dy5.41
T7821 - Sorrento
CLRA25
209
Mid slope
Mottled, ?, Red Chromosol, Podosol
Dr5.12
T7821 - Sorrento
OTR500
317
Mid slope
Acidic, Regolithic, Bleached-leptic Tenosol
Uc/Dy5.41
T7721 - Geelong
-
Melacic, Humic/alsilic, Semiaquic, Podosol
Uc4.0
T7520 - Princetown
OTR737
-
Melacic-mottled, Petroferric, Brown Kandosol
Em5.42/Dy3.11
T7620 - Otway
OTR739
Upper slope
Melacic-parapanic, Humic/sesquic, Aquic Podosol
Uc4.0
T7520 - Princetown
Mid slope
Fragic, subnatric, Aeric Podosol
Uc5.11
T7520 - Princetown
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