CLRA14

Hills of the Deans Marsh district		Site Code	CLRA14	Mesotrophic, Mottled-subnatric, Brown Sodosol
		Location	Deans Marsh (Cemetery Road), Otway Ranges, south-west Victoria
		Landform	Hills
		Geology	Palaeogene Eastern View Formation: fluvial gravel, sand, clay, brown coal
		Element	Crest
		Slope	4%
		Aspect	West-north-west
Horizon	Depth (cm)	Description
A1	0–15	Black (10YR2/1), grey (10YR5/1 dry); sandy loam; apedal single grain structure; weak consistence (dry); pH 5.25; clear smooth boundary to:
A2	15–50/65	Light olive brown (2.5Y5/4), pale yellow (2.5Y7/3 dry); sandy loam; apedal massive structure; firm consistence (dry); pH 6.0; abrupt wavy boundary to:
B21	50/65–100+	Yellowish brown (10YR5/6) with common medium and fine prominent and distinct dark yellowish brown (10R4/8) mottles; medium heavy clay; strong very coarse and coarse prismatic, parting to medium polyhedral structure; smooth ped fabric; strong consistence (dry); clay skin cutans; pH 6.0; boundary to:
B/C	100+	Yellow (10YR7/6) with common medium and fine prominent and distinct reddish yellow (7.5YR6/8) mottles; apedal massive structure; clay skin cutans; cemented sandstone duripan.
Management considerations
This soil is strongly texture contrast which results in the altered movement of water and gases between the light surface, subsurface and the heavy subsoil, the latter also being sodic and having the propensity to disperse and block pores [Emerson 2(1)]. The subsurface soil is quite deep but no structure and eluviated (leached) with little nutrient available, as highlighted by pale colour and low pH. The surface soil has a low pH (acidic) which restricts nutrient availability and increases aluminium and iron availability (leading to toxicity). The organic matter of the surface soil (8.7% OM) is useful in holding both water and nutrients. The surface and subsurface soils are slightly dispersive [Emerson 3(1) and 3(2)]. The heavy subsoil has restricted drainage as evidenced by mottling and matrix colour (pale). The variability of depth to subsoil is useful to know for estimating plant root restrictions and subsurface water movement.

Analytical data

Site CLRA14	Sample depth	pH		EC	NaCl	Ex Ca	Ex Mg	Ex K	Ex Na	Ex Al	Ex Acidity	FC –10kPa	PWP –1500kPa	KS	FS	Z	C
Horizon	cm	H₂O	CaCl₂	dS/m	%	cmol_c/kg	cmol_c/kg	cmol_c/kg	cmol_c/kg	mg/kg	cmol_c/kg	%	%	%	%	%	%
A1	0–10	4.7	4	<0.05	N/R	1.1	0.69	0.12	0.1	120	13	17.5	6.0	28.7	43.1	5	15.5
A2	30–40	5.2	4.5	<0.05	N/R	0.35	0.28	0.09	0.09	85	5.1	18.6	3.8	29.1	51.8	1	14.5
B21	60–80	5.7	4.6	0.07	N/R	0.8	5.8	0.09	0.99	120	10	32.8	22.1	2.8	28.6	5	59.5

Page top