SFS4
Location: Winchelsea
Australian Soil Classification: Endocalcareous-Endohypersodic, Self-Mulching, Black VERTOSOL
Site Description: Possible lunette on the edge of Lake Murdeduke. Southern Farming Systems (SFS) cropping trial site.
SFS4 Landscape
Soil Profile Morphology:
| Surface Soil |  SFS4 Profile | ||
| Ap | 0-8/10 cm | Brown (10YR4/3); cracking in surface crust; light medium clay; strongly pedal; coarse rough faced peds; strong consistence dry; pH 6.4; abrupt change to: | |
| Subsoil | |||
| B21 | 8/10 – 75 cm | Very dark grey (10YR3/1); light medium clay; irregular coarse prismatic structure; cracking evident; large slickensides (50 -100 mm in size); pH 7.6; clear change to: | |
| B22ssk | 75-95+ cm | Olive (5Y5/4); medium clay; lenticular structure; soft whitish carbonate present; large slickensides (>200 mm in size); pH 9.1. | |
Key Profile Features:
- Surface cracking occurs when soil profile dries out.
- Clay texture throughout soil profile.
- Self-mulching surface condition.
- Vertic features (i.e. slickensides, lenticular peds) evident in subsoil.
Soil Profile Characteristics:
pH | Salinity Rating | |||
Surface (A1 horizon) | Slightly Acid | Low | Non-Sodic | Slight1 |
Subsoil (B21 horizon) | Slightly Alkaline | Low | Sodic | Strong |
Deeper subsoil (at 75-95+ cm) | Very Strongly Alkaline | Medium - High | Strongly Sodic | Slight1 |
| The pH in the surface is slightly acid. The pH in the subsoil is slightly alkaline, becoming very strongly alkaline with depth. | The salinity rating is low in both the surface and upper subsoil. The salinity rating increases to medium - high in the deeper subsoil. | The surface is non sodic. The subsoil is sodic becoming strongly sodic with depth. | The clay content is moderate throughout the profile. |
Horizon | Horizon Depth (cm) | pH (water) | pH (CaCl2) | EC dS/m | NaCl % | Exchangeable Cations | |||
Ca | Mg | K | Na | ||||||
meq/100g | |||||||||
Ap | 0-8/10 | 6.4 | 5.7 | 0.16 | 10 | 8.4 | 1.3 | 0.7 | |
B21ss | 8/10-75 | 7.6 | 6.6 | 0.34 | 0.02 | 7 | 11 | 0.6 | 2.6 |
B22ssk | 75-95+ | 9.1 | 8.4 | 0.98 | 0.07 | 8.8 | 25 | 0.7 | 11 |
Horizon | Horizon Depth (cm) | Exchangeable Aluminium mg/kg | Exchangeable Acidity meq/100g | Oxidisable Organic Carbon % | Total Nitrogen % | 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 | 0-8/10 | 8.5 | 2.0 | 0.15 | 33.7 | 16.7 | 9 | 34 | 13 | 39 | |
B21ss | 8/10-75 | <5 | 5.2 | 40.9 | 20.7 | 8 | 30 | 12 | 49 | ||
B22ssk | 75-95+ | 54.8 | 29.7 | 3 | 21 | 15 | 58 |
Management Considerations:
Whole Profile
- Plant available water capacity (PAWC) is considered to be medium (estimated at 109 mm) in the upper 75 cm of this soil profile. Effective rooting depth (ERD) is restricted to 75 cm due to the highly sodic subsoils (ESP>20).
Profile Described By: Richard MacEwan (May 1999).
This page contains material sourced from the Victorian Resources Online (VRO) website, originally published by the State Government of Victoria. The content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence . The material has been adapted and re-formatted; no endorsement by the Victorian Government is implied.