| Abstract: | Particle-size analyses have been made on surface soils and a thin, overlying sandy pavement at 16 sites along a gently sloping transect at Torrens Creek in North Queensland. The transect is 1590 m long and has a maximum gradient of 0.018 (less than 1°). The sandy pavement is enriched in coarse components due to the sorting and differential downslope transport of the finer soil fractions. Particle movement is ascribed to the action of raindrops impacting very shallow, flowing water. The process, referred to as ‘rain-flow transportation’, is active wherever overland flow is too weak to generate rills and channels and occurs in areas of very low slope with permeable surface soils that allow rapid infiltration during storms. Rain-flow transportation is discussed with particular reference to the development of soil profiles in an old, subdued landscape of semi-arid tropical Australia. |
