Victorian Resources Online (archived)

CRC10

Location: Ararat

Australian Soil Classification: Mottled-Sodic, Magnesic, Yellow DERMOSOL
General Landscape Description: Mid-slope of hill (SE aspect) - colluvial slope.
Site Description: Grazing paddock – runoff demonstration site.
Geology: Ordovician thinly bedded shale (micaceous).

CRC10 Landscape

Soil Profile Morphology

Surface Soil

A1	0-5 cm	Brown (10YR4/3); fine sandy loam; weak to moderate coarse-medium blocky structure; weak consistence, moderately moist; pH 4.9; clear change to:	CRC10 Profile
A2	5-10 cm	Light yellowish brown (10YR6/4); some rusty mottling; sporadically bleached; fine sandy loam; weak to moderate coarse-medium blocky structure; weak consistence, moderately moist; pH 5.2; clear change to:
A22	10-25 cm	Very pale brown (10YR7/3) with brownish yellow (10YR6/8) mottles; light silty clay loam; weak to moderate medium-fine blocky structure; firm consistence, moderately moist; macropores (with some infill of A horizon material); pH 5.4; clear change to:
Subsoil
B1	25-45 cm	Light yellowish brown (10YR6/4) with brownish yellow (10YR6/8) mottles; clay loam (very fine sandy); weak to moderate coarse-medium blocky structure; firm consistence, slightly moist; pH 5.8; gradual change to:
B21	45-55 cm	Light yellowish brown (10YR6/4) with reddish yellow (7.5YR6/8) mottles; fine sandy light clay; firm consistence, moderately moist; pH 6.3; clear change to:
B22	55-70 cm	Brownish yellow (10YR6/6) with reddish yellow (7.5YR6/8) mottles; medium clay; moderate-strong coarse-medium blocky structure; firm consistence, moist; pH 6.7; gradual change to:
B23	70-85 cm	Brownish yellow (10YR6/6) with brownish yellow (10YR6/8) mottles; light clay (silty); moderate very coarse parting to strong coarse-medium blocky further parting to moderate-strong fine polyhedral structure; firm consistence, moist; very few quartz fragments; pH 7.0; gradual change to:
B24	85-110 cm	Brownish yellow (10YR6/6) with reddish yellow (5YR616) mottles; light clay (silty); moderate-strong coarse, parting to medium, parting to fine polyhedral structure; firm consistence, moderately moist; some manganese staining (2%); pH 7.0; gradual change to:
BC	110+ cm	Light grey (10YR7/1) with reddish yellow (7.5YR6/8) and yellowish red (5YR5/8) mottles; fine sandy clay loam; moderate coarse-medium polyhedral structure; weak consistence, moderately moist; manganese staining (5%); pH 7.8.

Key Profile Features

Gradual increase in clay content (texture) with depth down the upper soil profile.

Key Profile Characteristics

	pH	Salinity Rating	Sodicity	Dispersion
Surface (A1 horizon)	Very Strongly Acid	Very Low	Non-Sodic	None
Subsoil (B21c horizon)	Slightly Acid	Very Low	Non-Sodic	None1
Deeper subsoil (at 110+ cm)	Moderately Alkaline	Very Low	Sodic	Strong

¹ Strong to complete dispersion after remoulding

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl₂)	EC dS/m	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	Bulk Density g/cm³
							Ca	Mg	K	Na
							meq/100g
A1	0-5 cm	4.9	4.6	0.19	20	16	4.8	2	0.82	0.38	9	40	10	25	32.5	13.8	0.97-1.01 (1.00)
A21	5-10 cm	5.2	4.5	<0.05	33	6.4	1.6	1.1	0.11	0.17	1	53	24	16	22.4	5.7	1.02-1.16 (1.09)
A22	10-25 cm	5.4	4.6	<0.05	23	2.8	1.1	0.98	0.09	0.13	1	44	27	12	18.5	4.6	1.0-1.20 (1.11)
B1	25-45 cm	5.8	5	<0.05	19	4.1	1.1	3.1	0.12	0.25	4	49	24	22	19	8
B21	45-55 cm	6.3	5.2	<0.05	12	6	0.88	5.4	0.17	0.43	3	39	25	29	26	11.5
B22	55-70 cm	6.7	5.8	0.05		5.2	0.60	7.0	0.23	0.68	2	29	31	38	24.3	12.5	1.46-1.53 (1.48)
B23	70-85 cm	7.0	6.0	0.08		4.7	0.52	9.2	0.28	1	3	32	28	33	27.1	14
B24	85-110 cm	7.8	6.5	0.07			0.43	11	0.19	1.5	4	32	34	28	26.1	12.4
B/C	110+ cm	8.2	6.6	0.05			0.15	10	0.13	1.6					23.5	8.7	1.51-1.61 (1.54)

Management Considerations:

The subsoil has very low levels of exchangeable calcium compared to exchangeable magnesium (i.e. magnesic). This indicates that nutrient imbalances may occur (e.g. calcium deficiency).
The subsoil is dispersive (strongly dispersive at 70 cm depth), which will restrict the movement of roots and water at depth.

Profile described By: Mark Imhof, Austin Brown and Malcolm McCaskill - November 2003.

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