635

Site number:

635

Authors:

IBC, GGC, MRB

Date recorded:

1991/11/30

Reason Sampled:

Soil moisture and permafrost investigation; examination on beach ridge surfaces of differing ages

Description:

Approximately 70m from the coast in Arnold Cove; east from the S end of the Marble Point Air Facility; on the crest of the lowermost distinct beach ridge

Altitude:

7 m

Aspect:

Nil

Slope:

0 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal Antarctic

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

62 cm

Frozen type:

Hard ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

62cm

Geology

Geological setting:

The Marble Point beach ridges are a well defined set of raised beaches; they are though to have formed due to isostatic uplift; the age may range from 10,000 years; the lithology is mixed granite, gneiss, granodiorite marble with kenyite in places; some boulders are oxidised and partly crumbled

Patterned ground:

Nil

Surface weathering or surface features:

Boulders larger and less weathered than on upper beach ridge surfaces; many have strong patchy surface oxidation; a few surface salt patches

Soil

Soil parent material:

Weakly sorted bouldery gravel from rocks of mixed lithology, granite; granodiorite; marble gneiss and some kenyite

Previous disturbance:

Human visitation with some old soil pit sites

Soil weathering stage:

6 1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

A dry site, no adjacent snow or soil moistening

Biological activity:

Nil at site; moss patches and cyanobacteria are common locally