582

Site number:

582

Authors:

IBC, GGGC, MRB

Date recorded:

1990/01/23

Reason Sampled:

Soil contamination and environmental process evaluation; sampled to determine contaminant at the site of a rubbish fire

Description:

100m north of Surko Stream at the old Marble Point construction camp site, on the northeastern side, light to moderate surface disturbance, possibly related to ground scraping and permafrost retreat; the site of an old rubbish fire

Altitude:

60 m

Aspect:

Nil

Slope:

0 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal Antarctic

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

57 cm

Frozen type:

hard ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

57cm

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:

Considerable salt precipitation at the soil surface; nails and other artifacts are oxidised

Soil

Soil parent material:

Sandy gravel till from predominantly marble and gneiss with ashy material at the soil surface

Previous disturbance:

Probably some ground scraping and disposal of debris by burning

Soil weathering stage:

1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Oceanic subxerous,

Biological activity:

Nil observed at site