25 Yellow and brown strongly acidic mottled texture contrast and gradational (earth) soils on Palaeozoic sediments

These soils occur in the Western Uplands south of Ballarat and on the north-eastern edge of the CMA, where rainfall is quite high.

These soils have shallow surface organic silty loam to silty clay loam soils underlain by conspicuously bleached subsurface (A2) horizons, or a transition at about 30 cm into a pale yellow mottled silty light clay subsoil which grades into weathered thinly bedded sediments. Lower slopes and colluvial slopes have darker subsoils (pale brown) which are still mottled and more likely to be texture contrast and have sandier surface soils (loamy sand) than those soils on higher topographic positions on (weathered) rock.

Notable characteristics include: high silt content, erosion prone, strongly acidic and hence low nutrient availability, generally shallow organic surface soil, gradational increase in clay with depth on upper slopes, and texture contrast on lower colluvial slopes.		CLRA Soil Unit 25

Soil Sites
Site Code
Soil-landform unit
Component
ASC
FK
1:100 000 mapsheet
Upper slopeBleached-Sodic, Mesonatric, Yellow KurosolDy2.71T7722 - Bacchus Marsh
Mid slopeAcidic-Mottled, Dystrophic, Yellow DermosolGn3.71T7723 - Castlemaine
CLRA54
CrestAcidic-Mottled, Magnesic, Brown DermosolGn3.91T7723 - Castlemaine
CLRA57
CrestBleahed-Mottled, Dystrophic, Yellow DermosolGn3.71T7722 - Bacchus Marsh
CLRA58
CrestBleached-Sodic, Magnesic, Brown KurosolDy3.41T7622 - Ballarat
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