472

Site number:

472

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 just below a rocky ridge where some fines have accumulated in cracks

Altitude:

1425 m

Aspect:

Nil

Slope:

0 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Inland/Coastal Mountain

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-25 °C

Frozen ground depth:

0 cm

Frozen type:

Frozen comment:

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

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 weathering debris in a rock cleft

Previous disturbance:

Nil

Soil weathering stage:

6 2/3 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Isolated snow pockets but no adjacent snow or soil moisture

Biological activity:

Nil observed