GL160

Australian Soil Classification: Vertic, Mottled-Subnatric, Brown SODOSOL (confidence level 1)

General Landscape Description: Low hills.
Site Description: Upper slope. Slope 12%.
Land Unit: Glenelg River Granite.
Geology: Cambrian granite.
General Land Unit Description: In the steeper dissected valleys of the tablelands, where the duricrust has been eroded, weathered parent material becomes exposed. The soils at this site appear to have been developed over weathered granitic rock, one of the many types of parent material found in the Dundas tablelands. The site is located on an upper slope off the tableland, leading to a water course. This site illustrates the range of soil types and parent material that have been exposed due to weathering of the tablelands and highlights the difficulty of mapping all the geologies and soil types at this scale.






Soil Profile Morphology:

Horizon	Depth (cm)
A1	0-5	Dark greyish brown (10YR4/2); loamy sand; weak fine subangular blocky structure; firm to weak consistence, dry; pH 5.2; clear change to:
A21	5–15	Brown (10YR5/3),conspicuously bleached (10YR6/2d); loamy sand; massive structure; very firm consistence, dry; pH 5.1; gradual change to:
A22	15–50	Brown (10YR5/3), conspicuously bleached (10YR7/1d), with a few faint medium yellow mottles; light loamy sand ; massive structure; firm consistence, dry; pH 5.5; clear change to:
A23	50-60	Very pale brown (10YR7/3), clayey sand to sandy clay loam, conspicuously bleached (10YR82) when dry, many distinct coarse yellowish brown (10YR5/6) mottles, massive structure, firm consistence when dry, few medium subangular quartz pebbles (6-20 mm), pH 5.9. Clear to abrupt transition to:
B2	60-100	Brown (10YR4/3), with many prominent medium dark yellowish brown (10YR4/6) strong brown (7.5YR5/6) and light yellowish brown (2.5Y6/3) mottles; heavy clay; weak very coarse columnar structure parting to strong lenticular structure; firm consistence, dry; a few distinct clay skins evident; pH 6.5; gradual change to:
B3	100-160	Light olive brown (2.5YR5/3), with many prominent coarse red (2.5YR4/6) and yellowish red (5YR5/6) mottles; heavy clay; moderate lenticular structure, pH 6.1; abrupt change to:
C	160+	Weathered granite

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl2)	EC dS/m	Organic Carbon %	Total Nitrogen %	Exchangeable Aluminium ppm	Exchangeable Acididty meq/100g	Exchangeable Cations				Coarse Sand (0.2-2.0 mm) %	Fine Sand (0.02-0.2 mm) %	Silt (0.002-0.02 mm) %	Clay (<0.002 mm) %	Field Capacity % w/w	Wilting Point % w/w
									Ca	Mg	K	Na
									meq/100g
A1	0-5	5.2	4.5	<0.05	2.1	0.13	17	6.6	1.6	0.7	0.09	0.11	49	28	8	10	16	5.4
A21	5–15	5.1	4.4	<0.05			21	4.6	0.7	0.35	0.07	0.13	51	30	8	9	12.8	3.6
A22	15–50	5.5	4.8	<0.05			<10	1.9	0.37	0.22	<0.05	0.08	56	28	6	7	9.4	1.9
A23	50-60	5.9	5.1	<0.05			<10	1.1	0.43	0.54	<0.05	0.13	52	24	9	12	10.7	4.2
B2	60-100	6.5	5.3	0.08			<10		1.1	4.6	0.16	1	28	14	5	54	28.8	17.5
B3	100-160	6.1	4.9	0.12					0.85	5.1	0.16	1.4

• Acidic topsoil
• Strong textural contrast between topsoil and subsoil
• Mottled subsoil
• Sodic subsoil
• Subsoil dispersive when dry