471

Site number:

471

Authors:

IBC, GGC

Date recorded:

1979/12/17

Reason Sampled:

Soil weathering examination

Description:

In the Edson Hills on the southwest side of the Schanz Glacier; about 1km southwest of Lester Peak; the site is about 30m below the top of a limestone knoll outcrop on an upper side slope, where a patchy till cover overlies marble bedrock

Altitude:

1400 m

Aspect:

S

Slope:

12 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Inland/Coastal Mountain

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-25 °C

Frozen ground depth:

25 > cm

Frozen type:

Frozen comment:

>25cm

Geology

Geological setting:

The Ellsworth Mountains comprise a thick sequence of folded metasedimentary rocks comprising limestones, conglomerates and quartzites dating to Precambrian; the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is believed to have fluctuated greatly in response to global sea level changes and evidence of these fluctuations should be present in the tills and soil weathering record; the Edson Hills are predominantly metasedimentary rocks including marble; tills are more consistent on lower slopes but patchy on upper slopes

Patterned ground:

No patterned ground but some minor indication of slope creep

Surface weathering or surface features:

Dolerite clasts are well stained and have some small pits; polish and varnish distinct on some fine grained rocks; some phyllitic rocks well oxidised; some exfoliation of weathering rhinds

Soil

Soil parent material:

Thin till over partly weathered phyllitic marble; the till includes dolerite, sandstone, quartzite, and marble

Previous disturbance:

Nil

Soil weathering stage:

3 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Isolated snow pockets but no adjacent snow or soil moisture

Biological activity:

Nil observed