HARDPAN IN SOILS OF SEMI‐ARID WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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Abstract
Summary: Hardpan cemented by silica occurs widely in semi‐arid Western Australia below a variety of soils, mainly at shallow depth but more deeply in more permeable soils.Strongly cemented hardpan is widespread on gentle alluvial slopes formed by partial destruction of a lateritized Tertiary land surface; it also occurs in sand plain on remnants of this surface, but occurs only locally in the saline alluvial plains in the lowest areas of interior drainage.Hardpan results from silica cementation and clay deposition. As suggested by Teakle (1936), it may be due to leaching following episodic sheet flooding. Its formation appears to have kept pace with deposition of alluvium, and continues at the present time. Irregularities in or absence of hardpan formation are shown to relate to changes of slope, local drainage, and to certain soils.

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