At the northern end of the Jotunheim Valley till plain surface, approximately 4.5km NE of Oliver Peak; a level surface
Altitude:
1450 m
Aspect:
Nil
Slope:
0 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 35.9' S 161° 13' E
77° 36' S 161° 14' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.5983 161.217
-77.600 161.233
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.0008 0.008
0.008 0.008
Locality
Wright Valley near the centre of the Asgard Range, to the SW of Lake Vanda at the mouth of Jotunheim Valley
Survey
USGS, Antarctica 1:50,000 Topo. Ser. 1977 Lake Vanda Antarctica
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Central Mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-28
°C
Frozen ground depth:
50 > cm
Frozen type:
Dry frozen
Frozen comment:
>50cm
Geology
Geological setting:
The valley floor till is mapped by Denton as Jotunheim Till with an age >10.5 my and is thought to overlie the valley mouth Asgard Till; it is derived from alpine valley type glaciation within Jotunheim Valley and is derived from local dolerite and sandstone rocks
Patterned ground:
Old broad nets but inactive and very subdued
Surface weathering or surface features:
Well developed pebble and cobble pavement with few boulders above 25cm; most surface clasts are well rounded; coarse grained dolerite clasts eroded to ground surface; sandstones moderately polished; fine textured dolerite moderately oxidised with some weak pitting; sandstone clasts moderately ventiformed; salts beneath some stones
A few small snow remnants; soil is dry without moistening
Biological activity:
Nil observed
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
407a
-1 – 0 cm
surface cobbles; pebbles and granular gravel; rock particles subrounded and weakly to moderately stained but little altered; a few salt flecks,
407b
0 – 3 cm
pale brown to brown (10YR 6/3 - 5/3) sandy granular gravel; loose to weakly cohesive; weakly developed vesicular structure; rock particles mainly angular to subangular and weakly stained but some sandstone particles crumbled; distinct boundary,
407c
3 – 20 cm
yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) bouldery sandy to silty gravel; moderately cohesive; diffuse salt flecks with precipitation on the exposed soil face; rock particles angular to subrounded and mainly unstained; a few coarser textured rocks partly disaggregated; indistinct boundary,
407d
20 – 50 cm
brownish yellow (10YR 6/6) bouldery sandy to silty gravel; loose; rock particles angular to subrounded and unstained