On the S side of McKelvey Valley at its junction with Bull Pass; a low north sloping ridge surface; a large boulder was found to have differing soil temperatures beneath and adjacent to the boulder; samples were collected at differing positions to see if there might be noticeable weathering differences
Altitude:
900 m
Aspect:
Nil
Slope:
0 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 26.3' S 162° 30.5' E
77° 25' S 161° 31' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.4383 162.508
-77.42 161.517
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.0008 0.004
0.04 0.008
Locality
McMurdo Dry Valley region; McKelvey Valley
Survey
USGS 1:50,000 Antarctic Topo. Ser. Victoria Upper Lake Quadrangle
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Coastal Mountain
Site temperature profile
Depth (cm)
Soil temp (°C)
Notes
0
6
7
2
3
4
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-24
°C
Frozen ground depth:
0 cm
Frozen type:
Frozen comment:
Geology
Geological setting:
Tills in Victoria and McKelvey Valleys are part of a sequence of old glacial deposits; the sequence history is less well known than those of Wright Valley
Patterned ground:
Nil
Surface weathering or surface features:
Scattered surface boulders with few upstanding; a moderately developed surface pavement
from beneath a surface boulder; brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) sandy gravel; moderately cohesive; weakly developed vesicular structure; rock particles subangular and weakly stained,
366b
0
–
5
cm
30cm from rock edge; light olive brown (2.5Y 5/4) sandy granular gravel; loose; rock particles subangular and weakly stained,
366c
0
–
5
cm
5cm from rock edge; light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) sandy gravel; loose to weakly cohesive; rock particles subangular and weakly stained