Lee's Pinch Land System

Figure 10-01:

Unit
Area (%)
Land Forms
Soils
Vegetation

1
30 Rugged hills with rounded summits; irregularly benched slopes often littered with boulders and with very frequent sandstone outcrops including low cliffs up to 30 ft. high; fairly narrow flat-floored valleys 4001000 ft deep Mainly shallow coarse-textured skeletal soils and bare rock; in moist cool sites humic surface-soils; infrequently on interbedded shales or arkosic sandstones shallow podzolic soils (Binnie, Pokolbin); in stable sites coarse-textured earths Shrub woodland of ironbark and gum 4080 ft high, iron-barks common, with E. punctata, E aggiomerata, and E. oblonga, and with scattered or dense Callitris endlicheri, Casuarina torulosa, and Persoonia spp. below; shrubs usually abundant and mixed, Leguminosae common; ground cover poor, of grasses and herbs

2
30 Rugged hills margined by sandstone cliffs 50500 ft high usually overlooking steep shaly slopes littered with boulders; cavernous weathering of the cliffs; narrow inaccessible valleys 5002500 ft deep Similar to unit 1; predominantly coarse-textured non-humic skeletal soils; probably more bare rock As for unit 1, but with more herbs, shrubs, and non-eucalypt trees in ravines and at bases of cliffs

3
35 Stony, hilly plateaux with ridges and escarpments up to 200 ft high; very steep margins including cliffs up to 100 ft high; narrow gorges along the major rivers Restricted observations; similar to units 1 and 2; deep yellow earth (Mulbring) in level, stable site on plateau Shrub woodland of ironbark and gum 30 ft high, including E. punctata, E. trachyphola, and stringybarks; ground cover poor; many non-eucalypts in ravines and at bases of cliffs

4
<5 Sandy alluvium occupying valley floors in unit 1; liable to frequent flooding and deposition of sand in middle and upper reaches Restricted observations; deep sandy stratified alluvial regosols (Rouchel); sedimentation in valley bottoms frequent and calamitous owing to low soil stability on sandstone hills Shrub woodland or ironbark and gum with an admixture of non-eucalypt trees, sometimes cleared and under pioneer grasses

Source: General report on the lands of the Hunter Valley. Australian Land Research Series, volume 8, CSIRO: Melbourne (1963) (authors R. Story, R. Galloway, R. van der Graaf, A. Tweedie)

Unit	Area (%)	Land Forms	Soils	Vegetation
1	30	Rugged hills with rounded summits; irregularly benched slopes often littered with boulders and with very frequent sandstone outcrops including low cliffs up to 30 ft. high; fairly narrow flat-floored valleys 4001000 ft deep	Mainly shallow coarse-textured skeletal soils and bare rock; in moist cool sites humic surface-soils; infrequently on interbedded shales or arkosic sandstones shallow podzolic soils (Binnie, Pokolbin); in stable sites coarse-textured earths	Shrub woodland of ironbark and gum 4080 ft high, iron-barks common, with E. punctata, E aggiomerata, and E. oblonga, and with scattered or dense Callitris endlicheri, Casuarina torulosa, and Persoonia spp. below; shrubs usually abundant and mixed, Leguminosae common; ground cover poor, of grasses and herbs
2	30	Rugged hills margined by sandstone cliffs 50500 ft high usually overlooking steep shaly slopes littered with boulders; cavernous weathering of the cliffs; narrow inaccessible valleys 5002500 ft deep	Similar to unit 1; predominantly coarse-textured non-humic skeletal soils; probably more bare rock	As for unit 1, but with more herbs, shrubs, and non-eucalypt trees in ravines and at bases of cliffs
3	35	Stony, hilly plateaux with ridges and escarpments up to 200 ft high; very steep margins including cliffs up to 100 ft high; narrow gorges along the major rivers	Restricted observations; similar to units 1 and 2; deep yellow earth (Mulbring) in level, stable site on plateau	Shrub woodland of ironbark and gum 30 ft high, including E. punctata, E. trachyphola, and stringybarks; ground cover poor; many non-eucalypts in ravines and at bases of cliffs
4	<5	Sandy alluvium occupying valley floors in unit 1; liable to frequent flooding and deposition of sand in middle and upper reaches	Restricted observations; deep sandy stratified alluvial regosols (Rouchel); sedimentation in valley bottoms frequent and calamitous owing to low soil stability on sandstone hills	Shrub woodland or ironbark and gum with an admixture of non-eucalypt trees, sometimes cleared and under pioneer grasses