High outcrop on Ackerman Ridge towards the NE end on the NE/SW sloping spur on a ridge surface with rock outcrops; a weathered soil in a cleft between rock outcrops
Altitude:
2200 m
Aspect:
Nil
Slope:
0 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
86° 34.0' S 147° 55' W
86° 34' S 147° 55' W
Latitude Longitude DD
-86.567 -147.92
-86.567 -147.92
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.008 0.04
0.008 0.04
Locality
Scott Glacier region, southern Trans-antarctic Mountains on Ackerman Ridge
Survey
US Geological Survey 1:250 000, 1968, Mount Blackburn
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Inland Mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-40
°C
Frozen ground depth:
38 > cm
Frozen type:
Dry frozen
Frozen comment:
>38cm
Geology
Geological setting:
Till occurs to high altitudes on Ackerman Ridge with weathering increasing with increasing altitude; lithologies are mixed but schist or metasediments occur at higher altitudes
Patterned ground:
Nil
Surface weathering or surface features:
Surface rocks are strongly stained and exfoliated
Soil
Soil parent material:
Disaggregated schistose material with some argillitic component; fine fraction may not be rock flour
Small scattered snow patches but no indication of liquid moisture
Biological activity:
Nil Observed
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
216a
5 – 15 cm
yellowish brown (10YR 5/3) pebbly to boulder silty gravel; loose; rock fragments mainly angular and unstained; abundant diffuse salts in places banded; distinct boundary,
216b
30 – 36 cm
light yellowish brown to pale yellow (10YR 6/4 - 2.5Y 7/4) silty gravel between fractured bedrocks; loose; rock particles mainly angular but well oxidised and crumbly; sharp boundary, on fractured bedrock