637

Site number:

637

Authors:

IBC, GGC, MRB

Date recorded:

1991/12/01

Reason Sampled:

Soil moisture and permafrost investigation; resample of 1990 site 567 for moisture difference comparison

Description:

Near an old stream channel, approximately 150m W of the Marble Point runway near the northern end; on the flattish crest of a small hillock forming part of a linear ridge with 2-3m relief; at the site of soil 567 sampled in 1990

Altitude:

75 m

Aspect:

Nil

Slope:

0 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal Antarctic

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

50 cm

Frozen type:

Firmly frozen over hard ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

50cm

Geology

Geological setting:

The surface is an 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

Patterned ground:

Broad nets with 20cm troughs

Surface weathering or surface features:

Clasts mainly unstained, angular to subangular and non ventiform; weakly developed pavement; some granular disintegration of marble clasts

Soil

Soil parent material:

Bouldery sandy gravel from granodiorite and marble with inclusions of other rock types

Previous disturbance:

Site disturbed by previous sampling on 19/1/90

Soil weathering stage:

1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Dry at site with no soil moistening

Biological activity:

Nil at site; moss patches and cyanobacteria are common locally