Victorian Resources Online (archived)

GP85

Location: near Lake Glenmaggie.	Australian Soil Classification: Bleached-Mottled, Magnesic-Natric, Brown KUROSOL (gravelly)
Geology: Tertiary sediments.	General Landscape Description: Gently undulating rise.
Soil Mapping Unit: Coongulla.	Site Description: Road cutting adjacent to natural vegetation.

Site GP85 Landscape

Soil Profile Morphology:

Surface Soil

A1	0-10 cm	Dark greyish brown (10YR4/2); loamy sand; quartz gravel; pH 4.7:	Site GP85 Profile
A2	10-30 cm	Light yellowish brown (10YR6/4) conspicuously bleached (10YR8/2 dry); loamy sand; quartz gravel common (5-50 mm in size); pH 4.7:
Subsoil
B21	30-50 cm	Yellowish brown (10YR5/4) with yellowish red (5YR5/6), yellow (10YR7/8) and red (2.5YR5/8) mottles; medium clay; strong very coarse prismatic, parting to strong very coarse to strong coarse blocky structure; quartz gravel (2-10 mm); pH 4.8:
B22	50-90 cm	Yellowish brown (10YR5/6) with dark red (2.5YR4/6) mottles (30%); light clay; pH 5.1.

Key Profile Features:

Strong texture contrast between sandy surface (A) horizons and clayey subsoil (B21) horizon.

Soil Profile Characteristics:

Horizon	pH	Salinity Rating	Sodicity	Dispersion
Surface (A1 horizon)	Very Strongly Acid	Very Low	Non-Sodic	None
Subsoil (B21 horizon)	Very Strongly Acid	Very Low	Marginally Sodic	None¹
Deeper subsoil (at 50-90 cm)	Strongly Acid	Very Low	Marginally Sodic	None

¹ Slight dispersion after remoulding.

Horizon	Horizon Depth (cm)	pH (water)	pH (CaCl₂)	EC 1:5	NaCl	Exchangeable Cations
						Ca	Mg	K	Na
						meq/100g
A1	0-10	4.7	4.0	<0.05		0.35	0.21	0.37	0.08
A2	10-30	4.7	4.3	0.08		0.12	0.41	0.17	0.16
B21	30-50	4.8	4.2	0.19		0.06	4.4	0.43	0.88
B22	50-90	5.1	4.4	0.10		<0.05	4.8	0.18	0.66

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)
A1	0-10	44	8.3			33	47	11	4
A2	10-30	42	2.8			32	46	12	6
B21	30-50	230	10			21	22	5	51
B22	50-90	87	5.6			32	26	5	35

Management Considerations:

Whole Profile

The soil profile has large amounts of quartz fragments throughout.

Surface (A) Horizons

The sandy and strongly leached surface horizons have a very low inherent fertility.

Subsoil (B) Horizons

The coarsely structured (and marginally sodic) subsoil may restrict root and water movement to some degree.
The subsoil has very low levels of exchangeable calcium compared to exchangeable magnesium (i.e. magnesic). This indicates that nutrient imbalances (e.g. calcium deficiency) may occur.
The very strongly acid upper subsoil has a high level of exchangeable aluminium – that may restrict the growth of aluminium-sensitive species.

Profile Described By: Mark Imhof and Ian Sargeant (May 2004).

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