Browse Data | 1990 - Marble Point

Site Information

Site number:
584
Authors:
IBC, GGGC, MRB
Date recorded:
1990/01/24
Reason Sampled:
Permafrost and soil moisture investigation
Description:
About 150m northeast of the old Marble Point camp site; a largely boulder free knoll
Altitude:
65 m
Aspect:
W
Slope:
4 °
Location Data
Observer IBC GGC
GPS Yes
Latitude Longitude DMS 77° 25' 12" S 163° 41' 42" E 77° 25.12' S 163° 0.00' E
Latitude Longitude DD -77.4200 163.6950 -77.41867 163.0000
Latitude longitude precision DD 0.00015 0.00015 0.00008 0.0008
Locality Marble Point region, western McMurdo Sound just east of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier, between Marble Point and Gneiss Point
Survey Marble Point Quadrangle, US Geological Survey, 1975

Climate

Soil climate zone:
Coastal Antarctic
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-18 °C
Frozen ground depth:
54 cm
Frozen type:
Hard ice-cemented
Frozen comment:
54cm

Geology

Geological setting:
The land surface is an 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; gneiss bedrock outcrops locally
Patterned ground:
Nil
Surface weathering or surface features:
Some oxide staining on surface gneissic boulders; subrounded and exfoliating

Soil

Soil parent material:
Marble/gneiss till over gneissic bedrock; upper horizons pale but lower horizons somewhat browner, perhaps related to bedrock weathering
Previous disturbance:
Undisturbed by construction activity
Soil weathering stage:
1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)
Soil moisture status:
Oceanic subxerous, some soil moistening from snow melt
Biological activity:
None observed
Profile Description
HorizonDepthDescription
584a -1 – 0 cm surface pebbles, granules and sand forming a weakly developed pavement; extensive surface salt precipitation,
584b 0 – 10 cm light grey to pale olive (5Y 7/2-6/3) sandy gravel; loose; rock particles subangular and unstained; indistinct boundary,
584c 10 – 30 cm pale olive (5Y 6/3) sandy pebble and cobble gravel; weakly cohesive; rock fragments angular and unstained,
584d 30 – 42 cm light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) sandy pebble and cobble gravel; moderately cohesive; slightly sticky; moist; sharp boundary; drill core in ice-cemented ground
584e 42 – 54 cm [ light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4)
584f 54 – 72 cm [
584g 72 – 90 cm [ light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4)
584h 90 – 111 cm [ light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4)
584i 111 – 118 cm [ light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4)
584j 118 – 129 cm [
584k 129 – 138 cm [ light grey (2.5Y 7/2) on rock

Sample Data

Physical Data
Sample nameDepth descriptionTop (cm)Base (cm)Bulk DensityDry Bulk DensityGravimetric MoistureVol. Moisture (BD=2)
584a 1-0cm -1.0 0.0 1.9
584b 0-10cm 0.0 10.0 7.3
584c 10-30cm 10.0 30.0 3.7
584d 30-42cm 30.0 42.0 7.2
584e 42-54cm 42.0 54.0 8.6
584f 54-72cm 54.0 72.0 56.9
584g 72-90cm 72.0 90.0 22.2
584h 90-111cm 90.0 111.0 35.3
584i 111-118cm 111.0 118.0 16.5
584j 118-129cm 118.0 129.0 29.5
584k 129-138cm 129.0 138.0 8.4
Sample solution chemistry
Sample namepHNa meq/100gCa meq/100gMg meq/100gK meq/100gCl meq/100gSO4 meq/100gNO3 meq/100gEC mmho/cmSoluble SaltNotes
584a 10.2 42.7 . 0.16 0.45 20.6 10.4 0.3 6.8 .  
584b 9.3 1.2 . 0.01 0.05 0.3 0.3 0.03 0.2 .  
584c 8.9 0.55 . 0.07 0.05 0.3 0.4 0.01 0.12 .  
584d 8.5 0.75 . 0.07 0.06 0.4 0.5 0.03 0.18 .  
584e 7.9 0.78 0.03 0.1 0.04 0.6 0.6 0.001 0.24 .  
584f 7.5 1.36 1.03 0.69 0.08 1.8 3.5 0.01 0.9 .  
584g 7.1 4.45 0.69 0.95 0.12 3.4 3.1 0.03 1.26 .  
584h 7.7 5.45 0.59 1.06 0.15 4.7 3.2 0.03 1.44 .  
584i 7.6 4.6 1.44 1.33 0.17 3.5 5.2 0.06 1.5 .  
584j 8.1 5.4 1.23 1.87 0.22 4.0 7.0 0.05 1.8 .  
584k 5.2 4.9 1.04 2.4 0.18 3.8 7.0 0.06 1.6 .  
Particle size distribution
Sample name< 2 mm2 - 0.5 mm0.5 - 0.25 mm0.25 - 0.1 mm0.1 - 0.05 mm0.05 - 0.02 mm0.02 - 0.002 mm< 0.002 mmFe2O3CaCO3Notes
584a 39.0 27.7 19.4 30.1 15.6 4.3 1.7 0.9 0.3 .
584b 53.0 29.7 22.0 26.6 13.4 4.8 1.5 1.3 0.7 .
584c 20.0 45.2 24.1 16.8 6.4 3.0 1.8 2.1 0.7 .
584d 28.0 34.4 19.4 16.8 9.2 7.3 6.5 3.4 3.1 .
584e 23.0 38.3 16.4 14.0 9.4 9.5 7.2 2.7 2.5 .
584f -cm 16.7 10.6 16.8 13.6 14.2 18.1 7.6 2.3 .
584g -cm 15.8 11.1 17.2 14.5 16.2 13.9 8.9 2.5 .
584h -cm 12.7 13.9 20.6 15.1 14.8 13.6 6.4 3.0 .
584i -cm 15.3 7.4 13.4 12.8 16.5 19.2 12.7 2.6 .
584j -cm 12.2 9.0 14.9 13.0 16.4 19.0 13.0 2.4 .
584k -cm 18.5 6.2 10.2 11.0 16.2 21.6 13.6 2.6 .
Clay Mineralogy
Sample nameMicaIHMHIV - IHMICHLVTHIVCHLSMCHL SMFE - CHLHTQTZFLDHBCALNotes
584a 40.0 . . . . . 40.0 10.0 . . . . 10.0 . :
584b 40.0 . . . 25.0 . . 20.0 . . . 5.0 10.0 . :
584c 30.0 . . . 30.0 . . 30.0 . . . . 10.0 . :
584d 35.0 . . . 30.0 . . 30.0 . . 5.0 . . . :
584e 10.0 . . . 30.0 . . 45.0 . . . 7.0 8.0 . :
584f 20.0 . . . 45.0 . . 20.0 . . 5.0 . 5.0 . :
584g 20.0 . . . 30.0 . 5.0 20.0 . . 5.0 . 13.0 7.0 :
584h 24.0 . . . 10.0 18.0 5.0 24.0 . . 8.0 . 8.0 3.0 :
584i 20.0 . . . 25.0 . . 15.0 . . . . 15.0 8.0 :
584j 35.0 . . . 25.0 10.0 2.0 12.0 . . . . 8.0 8.0 :
584k 35.0 . . . 40.0 2.0 2.0 5.0 . . . . 8.0 8.0 :

Photos

Photo record:
Loading...