620

Site number:

620

Authors:

IBC, GGC, MRB

Date recorded:

1991/11/23

Reason Sampled:

Soil water rate of loss investigation

Description:

Approximately 4.6km NW of Marble Point peninsula and W of the Marble Point Air Facility; about 100m from the Wilson Piedmont Glacier; on a surface adjacent to a small thawing snow patch; the samples were collected from the moist soil at the edge of the snow and at intervals over a 4m distance to beyond the visible wetting front

Altitude:

65 m

Aspect:

N

Slope:

4 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal Antarctic

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

0 cm

Frozen type:

Frozen comment:

Geology

Geological setting:

The surface is a gently undulating till plain formed by retreat of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier; the Marble Point region is an old landscape, with 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; granodiorite, granite, marble, gneiss, and dolerite

Patterned ground:

Weakly developed 20m nets; 5cm troughs with active open cracks

Surface weathering or surface features:

A predominantly pebble gravel pavement; non to weakly stained

Soil

Soil parent material:

Sandy gravel till from predominantly granitic rocks

Previous disturbance:

Extensive mechanical and human activity in the region since the mid-1950's

Soil weathering stage:

1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

The soil is moist adjacent to the small snow patch which was retreating; beyond the visible wetting front, the soil surface was dry

Biological activity:

Nil at site; moss patches and cyanobacteria are common locally