Soils of the Mossmann Cape Tribulation Area, North Queensland

IMPORTANT NOTICE © Copyright Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (‘CSIRO’) Australia. All rights are reserved and no part of this publication covered by copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means except with the written permission of CSIRO Division of Land and Water. The data, results and analyses contained in this publication are based on a number of technical, circumstantial or otherwise specified assumptions and parameters. The user must make its own assessment of the suitability for its use of the information or material contained in or generated from the publication. To the extend permitted by law, CSIRO excludes all liability to any person or organisation for expenses, losses, liability and costs arising directly or indirectly from using this publication (in whole or in part) and any information or material contained in it. The publication must not be used as a means of endorsement without the prior written consent of CSIRO. NOTE This report and accompanying maps are scanned and some detail may be illegible or lost. Before acting on this information, readers are strongly advised to ensure that numerals, percentages and details are correct. This digital document is provided as information by the Department of Natural Resources and Water under agreement with CSIRO Division of Land and Water and remains their property. All enquiries regarding the content of this document should be referred to CSIRO Division of Land and Water. The Department of Natural Resources and Water nor its officers or staff accepts any responsibility for any loss or damage that may result in any inaccuracy or omission in the information contained herein. ISSN 0725-8526 CS I RO AUSTRALIA SOILS OF THE MOSSMAN CAPE TRIBULATION AREA, NORTH QUEENSLAND G.G. Murtha DIVISION OF SOILS Divisional Report No 102 DIVISION OF SOILS Divisional Report No. 102 SOILS OF THE MOSSMAN CAPE TRIBULATION AREA, NORTH QUEENSLAND G.G. Murtha CSIRO AUSTRALIA 1707 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry Murtha, G.G. (Grahame George). Soils of the Mossman Cape Tribulation area, north Queensland. Bibliography. ISBN 0 643 04966 5. 1. Soils - Queensland - Mossman Region. I. CSIRO Division of Soils. II. Title. (Series: Division of Soils divisional report; no. 102). 631.4'99436 Contents Page INDEX overleaf ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION 1 General 1 The Environment 3 Soil Series 4 Soil Mapping Units 4 SOILS FORMED ON BEACH RIDGES 6 SOILS OF BASALTIC ORIGIN 16 SOILS OF METAMORPfflC ROCK ORIGIN 20 SOILS OF GRANITIC ORIGIN 35 WELL DRAINED SOILS FORMED ON ALLUVIUM 38 POORLY DRAINED SOILS FORMED ON ALLUVIUM 59 ORGANIC SOILS AND SOILS OF THE TIDAL ZONE 69 ANALYTICAL METHODS AND ABBREVIATIONS 70 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 72 REFERENCES 72 INDEX TO SOIL SERIES AND MAP UNIT DESCRIPTIONS Name Soil Series Map Unit Sample No. BICTON* Page22 Page33 T296 BOOBAH* 30 T303 BROSNAN* 12 15 T329 BUCHAN 23 BULGURU* 70 69 CARSON 66 T304 CLIFTON 32 34 T312 COOM* 62 68 T306 DAGMAR 25 DAINTREE 10 16 T327 DAYMAN 58 T305 DEVIL DEVIL 68 EULUMA 27 GALMARA* 21 34 GARIOCH 45 61 GOOLBOO* 43 HEWITT* 66 HOLLOWAY 62 69 HULL* 8 15 T311 INNISFAIL* 42 T310 JAPOON* 39 JULATTEN 50 T300 KAYGAROO* 9 KIMBERLEY 18 20 T308 LERRA 41 LIVERPOOL* 46 59 T322 MIALLO 29 MISSION* 28 34 T321 MOLLOY 26 T299 MOSSMAN 44 59 T324 NEWELL 64 68 T309 PERA 18 20 GGM 362-366 PIN GIN* 17 20 GGM 382-386 PONZO 52 60 T323 RUMULA 56 60 T298 SILKWOOD* 39 SOMERSET 54 60 T302 SPANOS* 14 T328 THORPE* 36 37 TXMARA* 64 69 TOOLAKEA 7 TULLY* 40 59 T325 TYSON* 36 UTCHEE* 35 VIRGIL 48 60 T307 WEATHERBY 24 33 T297 WONGALING* 7 *First described in Murtha 1986 SOILS OF THE MOSSMAN CAPE TRIBULATION AREA, NORTH QUEENSLAND G.G. Murtha* Abstract Mossman is located at about 16°27'S latitude and 145°22'E longitude. It is situated in the center of the survey area which embraces the northern extremity of the humid lowland cane country of north Queensland. Mean annual rainfall ranges from about 1100 mm to over 3000 mm and has a pronounced summer dominance. A soil survey at 1:50,000 scale has been conducted over an area of about 105,000 ha of which some 60% is rugged rainforest clad mountains. Forty-seven soil series have been recognized and characterised in terms of their field morphology and major chemical and physical properties. The mapping units are associations of series. The soils of the area are formed on granite, low grade metamorphics (mainly medium grained metasediments but with some interbedded basic volcanics), and on mixed alluvium derived from these parent materials. Topography ranges from precipitous mountains to the flat depositional coastal plain. The latter is generally very narrow but includes alluvial fan, riverine and marine alluvium and beach ridge landforms. The upland soils exhibit many properties characteristic of soils of the humid tropics such as thick sola and/or very deeply weathered saprolite, freely draining and friable nature, acid reaction, and low base status. The lowland soils are much more diverse, but profile wetness which is usually site dependent, is the major factor influencing soil morphology. INTRODUCTION General Mossman is situated (Fig. 1) some 60 km by road north of Cairns and is the most northerly sugar cane growing area in Queensland. This survey covers the coastal country from Oak Beach to Cape Tribulation and the Julatten uplands south to Mt Molloy. It includes all land presently assigned to the Mossman sugar mill apart from a small area on the alluvium of Rifle Creek downstream of Mt Molloy. The soil survey covers an area of about 105,000 ha of which about 60,000 ha is rainforest clad mountains. This report provides a morphological description of the soil series recognised and a description of the mapping units depicted on the accompanying map. Available chemical and physical data are presented without any discussion of those results. A more detailed physical and chemical characterisation, together with discussion on soil distribution, classification, and land use aspects will be presented in a later report. Where possible the soils have been correlated with the soils of the Tully-Innisfail area (Murtha 1986) and the soils of the north Mulgrave area (Thompson and Cannon 1981). Some soil series are common to the three survey areas.The range of properties described for each series in this report are those encountered only in the Mossman survey area. They may not necessarily coincide with the ranges for the same series named in previous surveys. Twenty new soil series and variants have been identified in the Mossman area (see index to soil series etc.). * Division of Soils, CSIRO, PMB Aitkenvale, Townsville, Qld. 4814 2 CSIRO Division of Soils Divisional Report No.102 Figure 1. Locality plan CSIRO Division of Soils Divisional Report No. 102 3 The field work was carried out on a free survey basis with the aid of 1:30,000 monochrome air photography which was flown in 1972. Boundaries were field located on the survey line and extrapolated by air photo interpretation. The soils have been classified in terms of the Factual Key (Northcote 1979), great soil groups (Stace etal. 1968) and to the sub-group level in Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff 1975) where possible. All cultivated soils have an Ap horizon which may be as thick as 40 cm, this is identified by an /p following the principal profile form (PPF). In many soils it is highly likely that deep cultivation has modified the original profile form to the extent that subsurface horizons such as A2, A3, and B1 are no longer recognizable. Where possible the PPF from undisturbed sites has been recorded. For a number of soils there is no appropriate great soil group and for others the classification is doubtful. The latter are identified by a question mark. The classification to subgroup level in Soil Taxonomy must be regarded as provisional as it is based on minimal data. Where there is no analytical data available and considerable doubt exists the soil has not been classified. Argillic horizons have been identified on the basis of clay increase only. In the absence of reliable data on the moisture characteristics of these soils, a udic regime is inferred for all soils with fine sandy loam or finer field texture on the lowlands and for all upland soils under a rainforest vegetation. A ustic regime is inferred for the coarse uniform sands i.e. most of the soils formed on beach ridges and for soils under non- rainforest vegetation on the uplands. An aquic regime is inferred for the swamp soils. An iso temperature regime has been inferred for all soils with the following exceptions, sandy soils on the beach ridges and soils under non-rainforest vegetation on the Jullaten uplands. The classification given applies to the representative profile site and the accompanying laboratory data. It may not necessarily apply to the range of soils that comprise an individual series. The Environment The climate is characterised by very humid summers and mild, relatively dry winters. Rainfall ranges from about 1100 to 1700 mm on the Julatten uplands and from about 1800 to 3000+ mm on the coastal country. Rainfall isohytes are shown on Figure 1 but these are fairly crude as there are few recording stations and in some areas there are very sharp rainfall gradiants. Although the rainfall has a strong summer dominance significant falls can occur through the winter period. A feature of the rainfall is the very high intensities that can be experienced, the extremes of which are usually associated with tropicallowpressure systems. Occasional light frosts may be experienced on the Julatten uplands.

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