Soils and vegetation of central Australian sandridges. IV. Soils.

Catenary patterns on central Australian sandridges are assessed for the following soil parameters: sand depth, texture, mobility and penetrability; moisture content and characteristic; organic C content, total N and extractable P, K and Ca. There are marked dune‐swale gradients in sand depth, soil texture, mobility and penetrability, moisture content at — 15 kPa, and N and organic C contents. There are dune‐swale gradients in soil Ca content at a few sites only. Soil P shows significant heterogeneity but no catenary patterns, whilst K levels are homogeneous throughout. S, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, B, Mo, Co and CI were also measured for a number of sandridge soils but showed no significant catenary patterns and were therefore not studied in detail.