676

Site number:

676

Authors:

IBC, GGC

Date recorded:

1992/12/23

Reason Sampled:

assessment of environmental impacts from past human activities at Vanda Station; a site which has probably undergone little disturbance and was sampled for comparison with obviously disturbed sites

Description:

approximately 80m S of the main Vanda Station building on the bottom of a sloping gully; the site is similar to site 673 but is 30m to the SW and is away from the greywater disposal area;

Altitude:

93 m

Aspect:

NE

Slope:

6 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

central mountain

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-20 °C

Frozen ground depth:

35 ~ cm

Frozen type:

dry frozen

Frozen comment:

~35cm

Geology

Geological setting:

the rocks of the area are granodiorites that have been cut with lamprophyre dykes and form a strongly undulating ridge and gully topography as a result of ice over riding from down-valley and up-valley glaciations and to a lesser extent, subaerial weathering; at this site, bedrock is massive rather than fractured granodiorite with a shallow cover of fine fragmental material derived mainly from granular disintegration of the granodiorite

Patterned ground:

Surface weathering or surface features:

granular disintegration of bedrock outcrops

Soil

Soil parent material:

wind sorted granular sand derived from disaggregation of granodiorite

Previous disturbance:

no evidence of direct disposal of wastes but the site has been disturbed by vehicle trafficking and other human activities

Soil weathering stage:

6 1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

xerous; the soil surface is occasionally moistened by summer snowfall

Biological activity: