Reference soil Australia 31: Planosol

AU031

Planosols occur in level landscapes throughout the world often associated with broad river valleys.

Characteristics

Soils having an eluvial horizon, the lower boundary of which is marked. within 100 cm from the soil surface, by an abrupt textural change associated with stagnic properties above that boundary. The feature of albeluvic tonguing, however, is lacking.

Distribution of Planosols (rough estimation supplied by soilgrids)

Reference soil AU031: Planosols

MORPHOLOGY: In horizon Ah1 a little charcoal is found. The mottles, reported for horizon Bt(g), can not be seen on monolith.

Classification

WRB 2006

WRB 1998

Endogleyic- Planosol (Albic Sodic Epidystric)

Sodi-Gleyic- Planosol (Albic Epidystric)

20-50 cm	albic horizon
55-125 cm	argic horizon
-	stagnic colour pattern
-	reducing conditions
-	abrupt textural change

0-20 cm	ochric horizon
20-50 cm	albic horizon
55-125 cm	argic horizon
-	stagnic
-	abrupt textural change

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1988

FAO-UNESCO-ISRIC 1974

Sodi-Dystric Planosol

Dystric Planosol

0-10 cm	ochric A horizon
20-50 cm	albic E horizon
55-125 cm	argic B horizon
- cm	albic E horizon
-	abrupt textural change
-	sodic

0-20 cm	ochric A horizon
20-50 cm	albic E horizon
55-125 cm	argillic B horizon
-	abrupt textural change

Local classification:	HAS: Gleyed Podzolic Soil; FK: Gn2.94

Other classification

USDA-NRCS (1999)	Albaqualf
USDA-SCS (1975)	Albaqualf aquic fine-loamy mixed thermic

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Physical characteristics

Particle size distribution

Depth (cm)	Gravel % v/v	very coarse sand % w/w	coarse sand % w/w	medium sand % w/w	fine sand % w/w	very fine sand % w/w	Total sand % w/w	coarse silt % w/w	fine silt % w/w	Total silt % w/w	Clay % w/w
0-10	-	0.2	2.5	31.4	46.6	5.9	86.6	4.9	6.0	10.9	2.5
10-20	-	0.3	1.9	26.4	46.4	7.7	82.7	6.4	6.8	13.2	4.1
20-40	-	0.4	2.3	29.5	49.6	8.3	82.2	6.5	5.4	12.8	2.5
40-50	-	0.2	2.2	27.5	44.9	7.4	90.1	6.5	6.3	11.9	4.9
50-55	-	0.2	1.6	23.7	39.9	6.5	71.9	7.7	12.7	20.4	7.8
55-70	-	0.4	1.8	22.9	37.0	6.0	68.1	7.1	11.3	18.4	13.6
70-90	-	0.6	1.5	19.8	32.0	5.2	59.1	6.0	8.1	14.1	26.3
90-110	-	0.7	1.8	20.2	32.2	5.1	60	6.4	7.3	13.7	31.1
110-125	-	1.6	1.8	17.2	25.6	3.9	50.1	5.9	7.6	13.5	34.3
125-150	-	0.5	0.5	14.5	14.6	2.3	32.4	5.4	11.2	16.6	50.7
150-180	-	0.1	0.3	17.6	13.9	2.4	34.3	5.6	11.1	16.7	49.0

Water retention characteristics

Depth (cm)	Bulk density kg/dm³	Spec. Surf. Area m²/g	COLE cm/cm	Water disp. clay %	Clay % w/w
0-10	-	-	-	-	2.5
10-20	-	-	-	-	4.1
20-40	-	-	-	-	2.5
40-50	-	-	-	-	4.9
50-55	-	-	-	-	7.8
55-70	-	-	-	-	13.6
70-90	-	-	-	-	26.3
90-110	-	-	-	-	31.1
110-125	-	-	-	-	34.3
125-150	-	-	-	-	50.7
150-180	-	-	-	-	49.0

Chemical data

Depth (cm)	pH H2O	pHKCl	EC 1: 2.5 dS/m	CaCO3 % w/w	C % w/w	N %	C / N	Exch. Acid cmol(c)/kg	Exch. Al cmol(c)/kg	Ca cmol(c)/kg	Mg cmol(c)/kg	K cmol(c)/kg	Na cmol(c)/kg	Sum Cations cmol(c)/kg
0-10	5.9	5.6	0.86	-	0.50	0.04	13	-	-	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	3.1
10-20	5.7	5.2	0.66	-	0.27	0.04	7	-	-	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.9
20-40	5.6	4.7	0.36	-	0.14	0.02	7	-	-	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.1
40-50	6.9	6.7	0.21	-	0.02	0	-	-	-	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.9
50-55	5.3	4.8	0.11	-	0.03	0.01	3	0.2	0.1	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.9
55-70	4.7	4.2	0.33	-	0.03	0.01	3	0.8	0.4	1.2	0.3	0.0	0.3	1.8
70-90	4.8	3.7	0.18	-	0.06	0.01	5	1.5	0.8	1.8	0.7	0.1	0.6	4.9
90-110	4.4	3.8	0.60	-	0.05	0.01	6	2.7	2.2	2.8	0.7	0.1	1.3	3.2
110-125	4.9	3.7	0.20	-	0.04	0	-	2.4	1.8	2.6	1.3	0.0	0.8	4.7
125-150	4.9	3.6	0.19	-	0.06	0.01	6	4.8	3.9	3.1	1.7	0.1	1.6	6.5
150-180	4.5	3.6	0.40	-	0.03	0	-	4.8	3.8	4.5	1.7	0.1	1.0	7.3

Depth (cm)	Base sat. %	CEC soil cmol(c)/kg	CEC clay cmol(c)/kg	CEC org cmol(c)/kg	ECEC cmol(c)/kg	Al sat. %	ESP %
0-10	124	2.5	100	1.8	-	-	4
10-20	106	1.8	44	0.9	-	-	17
20-40	65	1.7	35	0.5	-	-	29
40-50	69	1.3	52	0.1	-	-	23
50-55	30	3.0	38	0.1	-	3	3
55-70	46	3.9	29	0.1	-	10	8
70-90	62	9.5	30	0.2	-	10	6
90-110	34	7.9	31	0.2	-	23	16
110-125	42	11.2	33	0.1	-	16	7
125-150	42	15.5	31	0.2	-	25	10
150-180	49	14.9	30	0.1	-	26	7

Elemental composition of the clay

Depth (cm)	SiO2 % w/w	Al2O3 % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	MgO % w/w	K2O % w/w	Na2O % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-10	66.7	20.0	2.8	0.18	0.25	0.26	-	2.32
10-20	62.6	23.2	2.4	0.11	0.27	0.21	-	2.05
20-40	57.9	27.1	2.4	0.07	0.23	0.17	-	1.90
40-50	66.0	20.0	1.9	0.04	0.20	0.16	-	2.60
50-55	64.4	22.8	2.3	0.03	0.19	0.14	-	2.52
55-70	55.1	27.0	6.5	0.04	0.23	0.16	-	1.87
70-90	46.6	29.6	7.5	0.04	0.26	0.16	-	1.38
90-110	47.2	32.0	7.3	0.01	0.23	0.16	-	1.28
110-125	46.2	33.0	7.3	0.02	0.29	0.17	-	1.16
125-150	46.3	33.7	6.8	0.02	0.35	0.25	-	1.03
150-180	46.2	33.0	5.9	0.03	0.32	0.35	-	1.03

Depth (cm)	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	Ign.Loss clay % w/w	Total Clay % w/w	SiO2/Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol
0-10	0.01	0.23	8.1	100.8	5.7	62.2	5.2	11.0
10-20	0.00	0.16	9.0	100.0	4.6	70.8	4.3	15.4
20-40	0.00	0.11	10.1	100.0	3.6	63.6	3.4	17.5
40-50	0.00	0.05	7.2	98.0	5.6	93.7	5.3	16.7
50-55	0.00	0.05	8.0	100.4	4.8	73.1	4.5	15.2
55-70	0.00	0.07	10.1	101.1	3.5	22.6	3.0	6.5
70-90	0.00	0.03	11.6	97.2	2.7	16.5	2.3	6.2
90-110	0.00	0.03	12.0	100.2	2.5	17.2	2.2	6.9
110-125	0.00	0.04	12.0	100.2	2.4	16.8	2.1	7.0
125-150	0.00	0.02	12.1	100.6	2.3	18.1	2.1	7.8
150-180	0.00	0.03	12.2	99.1	2.4	20.8	2.1	8.8

Elemental composition of the soil

Depth (cm)	Al2O3 % w/w	CaO % w/w	Fe2O3 % w/w	K2O % w/w	MgO % w/w	Na2O % w/w	SiO2 % w/w	TiO2 % w/w
0-10	0.5	0.16	4.1	0.03	0.00	-	94.3	0.31
10-20	0.8	0.08	3.5	0.03	0.00	-	94.0	0.39
20-40	1.4	0.02	3.5	0.03	0.00	-	94.5	0.40
40-50	0.5	0.02	3.9	0.02	0.00	-	95.0	0.36
50-55	1.7	0.02	2.8	0.03	0.00	-	94.3	0.58
55-70	3.4	0.04	1.0	0.04	0.00	-	94.5	0.64
70-90	8.1	0.08	2.9	0.06	0.00	-	85.9	0.69
90-110	10.0	0.05	3.9	0.07	0.00	-	81.7	0.69
110-125	12.6	0.07	5.6	0.08	0.00	-	76.6	0.71
125-150	19.0	0.08	7.4	0.19	0.00	-	65.7	0.81
150-180	18.1	0.11	7.1	0.21	0.00	-	67.0	0.79

Depth (cm)	Al2O3/Fe2O3 mol/mol	LOI % w/w	MnO2 % w/w	P2O5 % w/w	SiO2 / Al2O3 mol/mol	SiO2/Fe2O3 mol/mol	SiO2 / R mol/mol
0-10	0.2	1.0	0.00	0.00	320.1	61.2	51.4
10-20	0.4	0.8	0.00	0.00	199.4	71.5	52.6
20-40	0.6	0.8	0.00	0.00	114.6	71.9	44.2
40-50	0.2	0.3	0.00	0.00	322.5	64.8	54.0
50-55	1.0	0.8	0.00	0.00	94.1	89.7	45.9
55-70	5.3	1.4	0.00	0.00	47.2	251.6	39.7
70-90	4.4	3.4	0.00	0.00	18.0	78.9	14.7
90-110	4.0	4.1	0.00	0.00	13.9	55.8	11.1
110-125	3.5	4.8	0.00	0.00	10.3	36.4	8.0
125-150	4.0	7.1	0.00	0.00	5.9	23.6	4.7
150-180	4.0	6.7	0.00	0.00	6.3	25.1	5.0

Clay mineralogy

Depth (cm)	Chlorite	Feldspar	Gibbsite	Goethite	Halloysite	Hematite	Kaolinite	Mica / illite	Mixed-layer	Quartz	Smec	Vermiculite
0-10	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
10-20	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
20-40	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
40-50	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
50-55	-	-	-	-	-	-	strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
55-70	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	strong	-	weak
70-90	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	weak
90-110	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	medium to strong	-	weak
110-125	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	weak	-	weak
125-150	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	weak	-	weak
150-180	-	-	-	medium to strong	-	-	very strong	-	medium to strong	weak	-	weak

Profile description

Ah1 0-5 cm	dark grey (10YR 4/1, moist) grey (10YR 5/1, dry)sand, unspecified,weak fine subangular blocky,extremely firm,common medium distinct mottles (10YR 6/2) and (10YR 7/2),many micro pores,few very fine roots,non calcareous 10% HCl,clear boundary to,
A/E 10-20 cm	light grey (10YR 7/2, moist)light brownish grey (10YR 6/2, moist),Description sand,loamy sand,porous massive,porous massive,extremely firm,extremely firm,many micro pores,many micro pores,few very fine roots,few very fine roots,non calcareous 10% HCl,non calcareous 10% HCl,gradual boundary to,diffuse boundary to,
E(g) 20-50 cm	light grey (10YR 7/1, moist)white (10YR 8/1, moist),loamy sand,fine sandy loam,massive,weak very coarse columnar,firm,extremely firm,many micro pores,many micro pores,few very fine roots,non calcareous 10% HCl,non calcareous 10% HCl,gradual boundary to,abrupt boundary to,
Bt(g) 55-63 cm	(light) grey (10YR 6/1, moist) light grey (10YR 7/1, dry)fine sandy loam,weak subangular blocky,firm,coarse prominent mottles (10YR 5/8) and (10YR 4/8),many micro pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,gradual boundary to,
Btg1 63-91 cm	(light) grey (10YR 6/1, moist)sandy clay loam,weak subangular blocky,firm,common coarse prominent mottles (10YR 5/8) and (10YR 4/8),many micro pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,diffuse boundary to,
Btg2 91-110 cm	(2.5Y 7/1, dry) (2.5Y 7/no, moist)sandy clay,moderate coarse angular blocky,plastic,common medium prominent sharp mottles (7.5YR 5/6) and common coarse prominent mottles (2.5YR 4/8),many micro pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,gradual boundary to,
Btg3 110-130 cm	(2.5Y 7/0, moist) (2.5Y 7/1, dry)sandy clay,moderate coarse angular blocky,plastic,many medium prominent clear mottles (7.5YR 5/6) and many coarse prominent mottles (2.5YR 4/8),many very fine pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,diffuse boundary to,
BCg1 130-160 cm	(N 7/ moist)clay,moderate medium angular blocky,plastic,common coarse prominent sharp mottles (10YR 5/8) and common coarse prominent mottles (10R 5/6),very fine pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,
BCg2 160-174 cm	white (5Y 8/1, moist)clay,moderate medium angular blocky,firm sticky,common coarse prominent sharp mottles (10YR 5/7) and common coarse prominent mottles (10R 3/2.5),very fine pores,non calcareous 10% HCl,

Depth1	65cm
Kind 1 (parent material) ; Parker (eds), 1984	sediment, unconsolidated
Kind 2 (parent material) (second entry); Parker (eds), 1984	lateritic material
Mode of accumulation or deposition of parent material	fluvial
Remarks on Parent Materials	sand from upslope
Soil Depth	110cm
Texture of parent material	sandy
Texture of parent material (second entry)	clayey
Weathering Resistance	moderate
Weathering Resistance (second entry)	moderate
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock	partially or moderately
General characterization of the status of weathering of solid rock (second entry)	highly

Land use or vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the site	woodland, grazed
Remarks on Land Use / Vegetation	VEGETATION: Originally grassy forest grading to woodland of Melalueca quinquenervia (broad-leaf tea-tree), Banksia serrata, Leptospermum sp., Callistemon sp., Hakea gibbosa, Xanthorrhoea media LANDUSE: Deficiencies of N, P, K, S, Mo, Cn and Zn have been observed where this soil is used for pasture production. Forest reserve leased for sparse grazing
Status of vegetation; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	secondary
Major vegetation type; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	semi-deciduous woodland

Altitude	12m
Physiographic Unit	slope
Physiographic position of the site	lower slope
Regional landform; McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F. et all, 1984; Australian soil and land survey Field Handbook, Inkata Press, Melbourne.	plain
Slope	1%
Topography; Guidelines for soil description - Fourth edition (FAO, Rome, 2006)	hilly

Drainage class ; FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description	poor
Dry From - To	0-55cm
Flooding frequency (FAO, 1986)	never
Kind of ground water table (USDA, 1979)	no groundwater table observed
Moist From - To	55-110cm
Estimated permeability (class) of least permeable part of the profile	slow
Estimated run off (class)	slow

Evidence of alkali ; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-alkaline
Rock outcrop class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none
Evidence of salt; Soil Survey Manual USDA, 1951	non-saline
Surface stoniness class (FAO (2006) - Guidelines for soil description)	none

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Reference soil Australia 31: Planosol

Characteristics

Reference soil AU031: Planosols

Classification