SFS7

Location: Mokanger

Ausralian Soil Classification: Eutrophic, Mottled-Subnatric, Grey SODOSOL


General Landscape Description: Victorian volcanic plains.
Site Description: Midslope, gently sloping.
Land Use: Raised bed canola cropping. Beds marked up after offset disk ploughing.
Geology: Basalt

SFS7 Landscape

Surface Soil			SFS7 Profile
A1	0-5 cm	Brown (10YR4/3); fine sandy loam; apedal; weak surface seal; firm consistence dry; pH 6.9; abrupt change to:
A2	5-25/30 cm	Brown (10YR5/3), conspicuously bleached (10YR7/2 dry) with rusty (10YR4/6) root channel mottling; sandy loam; apedal; weak to firm consistence dry; pH 5.6; clear and wavy change to:
Subsoil
B21	25/30-50 cm	Dark grey (10YR4/1) with many (20-50%) fine yellowish brown (10YR5/8) mottles; medium heavy clay; contains very few round buckshot; coarse rough/irregular prismatic, parting to rough blocky/polyhedral structure; pH 6.3; gradual change to:
B22	50-80 cm	Olive brown (2.5Y4/3) with yellowish brown (10YR5/8) mottles; medium heavy clay; massive; consistence sticky; fine rounded buckshot; pH 6.5; gradual change to:
B23	80 cm+	Light olive brown (2.5Y5/3) with faint light yellowish brown (2.5Y6/4) mottles; medium heavy clay; massive; consistence sticky; few buckshot and some fine rounded quartz; pH 6.7.

• Strong texture contrast between surface (A) horizons and subsoil (B21) horizon.
• Conspicuously bleached subsurface (A2) horizon.

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl2)	EC dS/m	NaCl %	Organic Carbon %	Nitrogen %	Exchangeable Cations
								Ca	Mg	K	Na
								meq/100g
Ap		5.6	4.9	0.15		1.3	0.11	3.5	1.4	0.24	0.38
A1	0-5	6.9	6.5	0.34	0.02			9.1	1.2	0.4	<0.1
A2	5-25/30	5.6	4.7	<0.05				0.77	0.49	0.07	0.11
B21	25/30-50	6.3	4.8	0.09				4.6	9.4	0.4	2
B22	50-80	6.5	5.1	0.14				4.5	12	0.44	3.5
B23	80+	6.7	5.7	0.23				4.2	12	0.36	4.6

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	Exchangeable Aluminium mg/kg	Exchangeable Acidity meq/100g	Field Capacity 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)
Ap	-	<10	6	16.4	6.4	26	47	10	13
A1	0-5		4.7	19.8	10	24	45	11	13
A2	5-25/30	<10	1.9	12.6	2.2	30	50	13	9
B21	25/30-50	36	10	36.7	19.6	19	28	7	44
B22	50-80		10	42.4	22.3	15	26	7	50
B23	80+		7.1	38.6	19.8

Management Considerations:

Whole Profile

• Plant available water capacity (PAWC) is considered to be low (estimated at 88 mm) in the upper 80 cm of this soil profile. Effective rooting depth (ERD) is restricted to 80 cm due to the highly sodic subsoils (ESP>20).

• Dry winter, no difference between beds and conventional (2+t/ha).
• Horizon Ap sample from a one year old raised bed which had been tilled once. Remaining horizons sample collected from undisturbed pasture.