Tour 4 - Laterites, landscapes and land-use in south-western Australia

Dates	Monday 26 July to Friday 30 July 2010
Price	$AUD2140.00 per person single room $AUD1755.00 per person twin share
Inclusions	Coach travel Accommodation - Monday through to Friday 30 July inclusive Breakfast - Tuesday through to Saturday nclusive Morning Tea - Tuesday through to Friday inclusive Lunch - Tuesday through to Friday inclusive Afternoon Tea - Tuesday through to Friday inclusive Dinner - Tuesday through to Thursday inclusive Tour Manual Tour Guides Please note the Tour will commence on Tuesday morning 27July with accommodation included for the Monday evening in Perth. Accommodation is also included in Perth on Friday night to assist with onward travel arrangements to Brisbane for the Congress.
Participants	Minimum of 25 delegates

Day 1 - Perth

Participants will gather in Perth Western Australia on the first night of our tour.

The tour will visit a range of sites on the Yilgarn Craton of south-western Australia, where Archaean granites and gneisses have been deeply weathered under previous climates. These landscape materials have been subsequently reworked with a resultant distinctive suite of soils. The tour will describe soil properties, their development in the landscape and the challenges to contemporary land-use.

Day 2 -

On Tuesday morning we will examine weathering ("lateritisation") of Archaean basement rocks to depths of 10-30 m at the Jarrahdale railway cutting. Themes include mineralogy, an introduction to the diverse flora of the region including the adaptation of forest vegetation to a Mediterranean environment with an annual summer-drought.

In the afternoon we will examine aspects of minesite rehabilitation, and in particular the restoration of the jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest following bauxite mining. The upper soil profiles are mined for bauxite, from which aluminium is extracted, and then rehabilitated. This stop will examine the results of an extensive minesite restoration research program. The day concludes in York, an early settled town with many historic buildings, in the Avon Valley.

Day 3 -

On Wednesday morning we will examine patterns of soil development in a deeply weathered lateritic landscape. The lateritic profiles examined on Day 2 have been stripped to a variable extent, resulting in the present day soil pattern. This segment will describe the soil-geomorphological relationships elucidated in several studies. The impact of soil distribution on agricultural development will be examined at a typical farm. The soils of the region are beset by multiple challenges, these including both macro and micro-nutrient deficiencies in agricultural plants, hostile subsoils and water repellency all of which both affect plant growth and crop and pasture yields.

On our way to Narrogin, where we will stay overnight, we will be introduced to salinity, a major landuse problem in this region caused by a landscape water imbalance.

Day 4 -

Salinity and its management is the theme for Thursday, where in the morning we will visit Lakes Toolibin and Taarlbin and explore the hydrogeology of these deeply weathered landscapes. In the afternoon we will examine the major management options used to tackle salinity including partial reforestation with local eucalypts, the use of perennial agricultural plants and the treatment of salt-land areas with salt-tolerant species such as salt-bush (Atriplex spp). The day will conclude with a dinner with members of the Facey Group, an innovative local land conservation organization.

Day 5 -

On Friday morning we further examine some of the new agricultural industries that are being developed in this region. These include the use of mallee eucalypts as a means of carbon sequestration and as a bioenergy feedstock and the use of biochar as a soil amendment. Viticulture has also developed across the region and we will have lunch at a vineyard near Wandering. On the final sector, prior to our afternoon return to Perth, we will examine sediments that occur within the deeply weathered terrain and discuss the role of plants in pedogenesis.

Accommodation on Friday night is included in the tour package, with delegates having a free evening. Delegates can proceed to Brisbane and the Congress, on Saturday.