Authors / CoAuthors
Greene, R.S.B. | Nettleton, W.D.
Abstract
Dune soils in a longitudinal dune-swale landscape in the Kulwin Dunefield, east of the Darling River, in New South Wales, are classified as Xeric Haplargids in fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic families (siliceous sands Uc 1.23). They are paralleled in swales by fine, mixed thermic Xeric Hapl argids (solonised brown soils Uc 1.12. The very fine sands are mostly quartz. Weatherable minerals make up <10 g/kg. Clays have cation-exchange capacities at pH 7.0 of about 50-60 cmol (+)/kg and clay mica in amounts of about 150 g/kg. Textural differences in the two soils are in large part explained by differences in their aeolian parent materials. The dune sands are probably locally derived, whilst the fine material making up the swales is parna, of both local and regional origin. The winnowing action of eastwardmoving, converging helicoidal winds produces sandy dunes, while the parna is moved on. At the same time, the wind brings in more fines (in suspension) and coarse particles (by saltation), depositing them in both the dunes and swales. Some of the coarser dune material may have been eroded by runoff and deposited in the swales. The dune-swale landscape is believed to have been formed at about 16-20 ka. The profile characteristics indicate that a common palaeosol exists below depths of about 195-200 cm in the dune profile and 40 cm in the swale profile. A calcic horizon with up to 23 per cent carbonate has formed in the swale soil below a depth of 40 cm. In the dune, the ground soi l has only traces of carbonate, but the upper part of the palaeosol apparently has been enriched with carbonate from the dune. Silt and fine sand size clay bodies (parna) occur in the Bt1 horizon of the swale soil and throughout the Bt horizons of the dune ground soil. In the Bt1 horizon of the swale soil, insepic- skelsepic fabric occurs. lIIuviation argillans occur in voids and channels in the swale soil argillic horizon and on sands. In both the swale and the dune ground soils, illuviation argillans also bridge between sand grains. Pedogenic leaching of carbonate, pedoplasmation, and clay translocation thus have taken place in the soils during and since deposition of the parna. Because of the parna and salt additions (such as CaC03), the soils have adequate physical and chemical properties to be productive in the climate in which they occur.
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document
eCat Id
81439
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Keywords
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- GA PublicationJournal
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- NSW
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_External
Publication Date
1996-01-01T00:00:00
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geoscientificInformation
Series Information
AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics 16:3:277-287
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[-31.88, -29.58, 143.82, 146.45]
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