577

Site number:

577

Authors:

IBC, GGGC, MRB

Date recorded:

1990/01/23

Reason Sampled:

Soil contamination and environmental evaluation; at the site of an oil spill, probably heavy lubricating oil

Description:

Old Marble Point construction camp site, approximately 100m north of Surko Stream, towards the eastern edge of the heavily disturbed area; The site is an area of old oil contamination, marked by patches of dark coloured smooth ground surface

Altitude:

60 m

Aspect:

Nil

Slope:

0 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal Antarctic

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

90 cm

Frozen type:

Hard ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

90cm

Geology

Geological setting:

The land surface is a gently undulating till plain formed by retreat of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier; The Marble Point region is an old landscape, as evidenced by deposits of phillipsite, buried soils and oxidised gneiss, which have been covered by advances of the grounded Ross Ice Shelf; later ice retreat and glaciological features have been controlled by changes in the stranded Wilson Piedmont Glacier; the till mantle is patchy and dominated largely by locally occurring rocks

Patterned ground:

Nil

Surface weathering or surface features:

The ground surface is smooth, oil-caked and dark coloured

Soil

Soil parent material:

Oil contaminated bouldery till, predominantly from marble and gneiss

Previous disturbance:

Site of old late 1950's Marble Point construction camp; the buildings were trashed, probably in the 60's but with subsequent periodic attempts at clean up; this location is the site of the 1999 biological sampling and soil temperature and humidity measurements

Soil weathering stage:

6 1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

N/A

Biological activity:

Nil observed at site