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Abstract:
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Hard Setting Grey Clays, colloquially termed Moort Clays by the Central South Coast farmers of Western Australia, fall into the typical class of Sunday soils (i.e. too dry to sow a crop on Saturday and too wet on Monday) - acknowledgment that these soils can be difficult to manage. The local soil name derives from the dominant endemic vegetation growing on this soil (Eucalyptus platypus ssp) usually with no competing understory vegetation. Moort clays are most often found on mid to upper valley slopes and depending on parent material and pedogenesis are often alkaline (sometimes acidic), hard setting, sometimes cracking, highly sodic, no evidence of lateritisation, and may occasionally demonstrate alluvial layers. The associated soil-landscape is easily identifiable by the vegetation, and the soil is unique for the Gnowangerup-Jerramungup-Fitzgerald area.
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