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Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment for Developing Irrigated Agriculture

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Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Land Capability Assessment for Developing Irrigated Agriculture Research Library Resource management technical reports Natural resources research 5-2015 Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas, East Kimberley: land capability assessment for developing irrigated agriculture Henry Smolinski Shahab Pathan Paul Galloway Kus Kuswardiyanto Justin Laycock Follow this and additional works at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/rmtr Part of the Agriculture Commons, Geology Commons, Hydrology Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Soil Science Commons, and the Water Resource Management Commons Recommended Citation Smolinski, H, Pathan, S, Galloway, P, Kuswardiyanto, K, and Laycock, J. (2015), Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas, East Kimberley: land capability assessment for developing irrigated agriculture. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia, Perth. Report 391. This report is brought to you for free and open access by the Natural resources research at Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Resource management technical reports by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas, East Kimberley: land capability assessment for developing irrigated agriculture Resource management technical report 391 Supporting your success Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas, East Kimberley: land capability assessment for developing irrigated agriculture Resource management technical report 391 Henry Smolinski, Shahab Pathan, Paul Galloway, Kus Kuswardiyanto and Justin Laycock Copyright © Western Australian Agriculture Authority, 2015 May 2015 ISSN 1039-7205 Cover: Soil profile of a Cockatoo sand, sandy phase exposed along a creek bank (photo: H Smolinski) Recommended reference Smolinski, H, Pathan, S, Galloway, P, Kuswardiyanto, K & Laycock, J 2015, ‘Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas, East Kimberley: land capability assessment for developing irrigated agriculture’, Resource management technical report 391, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia, Perth. Disclaimer The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Agriculture and Food and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this information or any part of it. Copies of this document are available in alternative formats upon request. 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth WA 6151 Telephone: (08) 9368 3333 Email: [email protected] Website: agric.wa.gov.au Cockatoo Sands: land capability assessment Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... v Summary .............................................................................................................. vii 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Previous studies ................................................................................... 2 1.2 Geology ................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Physiography ........................................................................................ 6 1.4 Climate ................................................................................................. 6 2 Soil survey ..................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Preliminary data analysis...................................................................... 7 2.2 Field survey procedure ......................................................................... 8 2.3 Terrain elevation data ......................................................................... 10 3 Soil and land description ........................................................................... 11 3.1 Soil families ........................................................................................ 11 3.3 Depth to bedrock and associated soils ............................................... 19 3.4 Depth to watertable ............................................................................ 22 3.5 Land slope .......................................................................................... 24 4 Soil map units ............................................................................................. 26 4.1 Cockatoo sand, normal phase (CS) ................................................... 26 4.2 Cockatoo sand, loamy phase (CSL) ................................................... 26 4.3 Cockatoo sand, normal phase + rock outcrop (CS+R) ....................... 26 4.4 Packsaddle (PSL) ............................................................................... 27 4.5 Packsaddle and sandy duplex (PSL+SD) ........................................... 27 4.6 Pago sand, normal phase (PG) .......................................................... 28 4.7 Pago sand, loamy phase (PGL) ......................................................... 28 4.8 Rock outcrop + Pago sand, normal phase (R+PG) ............................ 28 5 Vegetation associations ............................................................................. 29 6 Soil profile analysis .................................................................................... 32 6.1 Soil organic carbon (SOC).................................................................. 32 6.2 Soil electrical conductivity (EC) .......................................................... 32 iii Cockatoo Sands: land capability assessment 6.3 Exchangeable basic cations .............................................................. 32 6.4 Soil pH ............................................................................................... 33 6.5 Soil nutrients and nutrient retention ................................................... 34 6.6 Soil particle size ................................................................................. 34 6.7 Clay mineralogy ................................................................................. 35 6.8 Hydraulic properties ........................................................................... 35 7 Land capability for agriculture .................................................................. 37 7.1 Site drainage potential ....................................................................... 38 7.2 Water erosion .................................................................................... 40 7.3 Nutrient availability ............................................................................. 41 7.4 Nutrient export ................................................................................... 42 7.5 Soil workability ................................................................................... 42 7.6 Salinity hazard ................................................................................... 43 7.7 Potential development areas ............................................................. 44 8 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 55 Appendix A: Representative soil profiles and analyses .................................. 56 Appendix B: Summary of soil observation sites ............................................. 78 References ........................................................................................................ 102 iv Cockatoo Sands: land capability assessment Acknowledgements This investigation is made possible by Royalties for Regions. It was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) through the Regional Economic Development Water Opportunities Project, which aims to promote agribusiness through the development of land and water resources within the Kimberley. The authors appreciate the assistance of Phil Goulding (DAFWA) for the production of maps and spatial analysis. DAFWA technical officers Ben Cohen and Tim Pope managed soil drilling operations and conducted the RTK contour survey. Local growers provided invaluable information regarding the drainage and management of the sandy soils. In particular we would like to thank Stan Smythe for sharing his knowledge regarding the development of Cockatoo Sands. Stuart Mckechnie (Manager, Carlton Hill Station) and staff and Garralyel representing MG Corporation (as the traditional owners) provided access to the survey areas and valuable local knowledge. Malcolm Bennett and Jason Hill (Department of Land Resource Management, Northern Territory) shared their knowledge and practical experience in the development of Blain and Tippera soils of the Northern Territory. We also thank DAFWA staff at the Frank Wise Research Institute for providing assistance and support, in particular Mark Warmington, Gerard Morgan, Lorraine Hartle and Allan Kerr. Don Bennett (project team leader) and Noel Schoknecht provided critical advice and review and Phil Goulding prepared the maps. Angela Rogerson (DAFWA) and Julia Berney edited this report. v Cockatoo Sands: land capability assessment Summary This report identifies areas of Cockatoo Sands adjacent to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA), Kununurra, with high potential for developing irrigated agriculture. It builds on a reconnaissance soil survey conducted in 2009 which identified significant areas of sandy
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