Victorian Resources Online (archived)

SFS 10

Location: Wickliffe, Settlement Road
Aust. Soil Class.:Vertic, Mesonatric, Grey and Black SODOSOL

Site Description: Barley paddock

SFS 10

Soil Profile Morphology:

Surface Soil			SFS 10
Ap	0-15 cm	Dark yellowish brown (10YR 4/4 moist) with light brownish grey (10YR 6/2 dry) mottles; weakly pedal, crumb (<10 mm); weak to firm consistence; pH 5.5 abrupt and wavy change to:
A2	15-25/40 cm (in places)	Greyish brown (10YR 5/2 moist) conspicuously bleached (10YR 6/1 dry); fine sandy clay loam; apedal; pH 6.2; gradual change to:
Subsoil
B1	35-60 cm (where present)	Greyish brown (10YR 5/2 moist) with grey to white (10YR 6/1-8/1 dry) mottles; with prominent, frequent (5-10 mm intervals); fine sandy clay loam; vertical pores (2 mm) infilled with darker light brownish grey (10YR 6/2) material; many fine pores (<1 mm); apedal; very hard consistence; pH 6.6; abrupt change to:
B21t	15-25/40-100 cm	Very dark greyish brown (2.5Y 3/2) becoming olive brown (2.5Y 4/2) at depth; medium clay; deep wide cracks, 30-40 cm apart; extremely tough and rigid but sticky at base of cracks; pH 7.3 becoming pH 8.7 at 60-80 cm depth.

Key Profile Features:

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

Soil Profile Characteristics:

	pH	Salinity Rating	Sodicity	Dispersion
Surface (A1 horizon)	Strongly Acid	Very Low	Non-Sodic	None
Subsoil (B21 horizon)	Slightly Alkaline	Low	Strongly Sodic	Strong-Complete
Deeper subsoil (at 80 cm)	Strongly Alkaline	Low-Medium	Strongly Sodic	Strong-Complete

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl₂)	EC dS/m	NaCl	Exchangeable Cations
						Ca	Mg	K	Na
						meq/100g
Ap	0-8	5.5	4.7	0.12		4.5	3	0.26	0.51
A2	15-25	6.2	4.7	<0.05		1.6	1.5	0.15	0.46
B1	40-60	6.6	5	0.08		2.8	4.6	0.27	2
B21t	20-40	7.3	6	0.23		6.8	12	0.99	4.9
B21t	60-80	8.7	7.9	0.49	0.06	6.8	14	1	7.8
B21	20-40	7.6	6.5	0.3	0.01	6.7	11	1.2	5

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	0-8	58	10	25.6	10.8	7.2	42.7	22.5	22.5
A2	15-25	<10	4.7	20.9	6.2	6	48.6	24.5	17.5
B1	40-60		6.9	26.4	12.3	6.2	41.2	21	30
B21t	20-40		7	43.3	23.8	2.3	26.6	13	52.5
B21t	60-80		2.8	44.8	25.4	2.5	23.7	14.5	55.5
B21	20-40		9.1	53.3	32	1.5	11.8	9	73

Management Considerations:

Whole Profile

Plant available water capacity (PAWC) is considered to be low (estimated at 86 mm) in the upper 70 cm of this soil profile. Effective rooting depth (ERD) is restricted to 70 cm due to the highly sodic subsoils (ESP>20).

Notes

Cracking to surface, very tough to dig. Could not pick back with geopick
Soil profile described by, Richard MacEwan, May 1999.

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