THE GENESIS OF SOME BASALTIC SOILS IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Abstract

SummaryField and laboratory investigations of 182 soil samples and their underlying basalts in the Inverell area indicated that not all of the red soils in the area are relicts of Tertiary laterization as was previously thought. The soils on basalt were divided morphologically and mineralogically into shallow (black, brown/ chocolate, and red) and deep (krasnozems and lateritic soils) profiles. The mineralogy of the sand fractions of the shallow soils, which were similar in all respects except colour and location, suggests that they are young soils as the heavy minerals in the sand fractions are dominantly pyroxene, olivine, and the black opaque minerals which weather quite rapidly. The shallow black and brown/chocolate soils occupy whole slopes under grassland vegetation or grassland with trees, while the shallow red soils are restricted to steeper well‐drained slopes and crests where trees tended to dominate grass. In similar areas throughout the New England region red soils are found on basalt in areas receiving 75 cm or less average annual rainfall, although previous workers have assumed that red soils develop from basalt at present only in areas receiving more than 140 cm average annual rainfall. The deeper soils, which were characterized by a lower pH, occupied upper or upper and middle slopes. The dominance of the resistant altered opaque minerals in these soils suggests that they are relict soils. The krasnozems showed little horizon differentiation apart from a slight darkening of the upper 8–10 cm. The lateritic soils had marked horizons, with laterite overlying mottled and pallid zones, the whole sequence being deeper than the krasnozems. The lateritic soils contained a high percentage of heavy minerals in the sand fractions in contrast to all the shallow profiles. Only one period of laterization is indicated in the area, although the laterite levels were not always accordant.