assessment of environmental impacts from past human activities at Vanda Station; sampled for indications of contaminations from greywater and urine disposal
Description:
on a slope just northwest of the Vanda Station buildings; 15m from the main building and 10m from the generator building; approximately 6.5m downslope from site 679
Altitude:
93 m
Aspect:
NW
Slope:
16 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
75° 50' S 166° 45' E
77° 0.0' S 161° 40.0' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-75.83 166.75
-77.000 161.667
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.08 0.04
0.008 0.008
Locality
Vanda Station, Wright Valley at the eastern end of Lake Vanda
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
central mountain
Site temperature profile
Depth (cm)
Soil temp (°C)
Notes
5
1.8
16
0.6
23
-1.5
30
-2.7
46
-2.5
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-20
°C
Frozen ground depth:
26 cm
Frozen type:
ice-cemented
Frozen comment:
26
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, the rock is fractured granodiorite; subsequent to glaciation, the terrain has been subjected to drowning and emergence from fluctuating water levels from Lake Vanda with some sorting or resorting of surficial materials
Patterned ground:
Surface weathering or surface features:
surface materials are angular and unstained; much surface loose and probably recent wind-blown sand
Soil
Soil parent material:
fractured, flaggy & in situ, granodiorite with granular sand accumulations in cracks bet. angular, fragmented boulder sized clasts; soil base is on ice cemented frozn grnd which may have formed from capillary movement of water from rising Lake Vanda
Previous disturbance:
the upper part of the slope has been disturbed by base activities and was a disposal site for greywaters and urine, which may have seeped downslope
xerous; the soil surface is occasionally moistened by summer snowfall; a site for previous disposal of fluids
Biological activity:
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
680e
light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) bouldery sand; very hard and ice cemented; boulders are angular fragmented bedrock with sand filling the fissures.
680a
0
–
4
cm
surface platy cobbles and very loose recent wind blown sand; rock particles angular and unstained,
680b
4
–
25
cm
pale olive to light yellowish brown (5Y 6/3-2.5Y 6/4) bouldery sandy gravel; loose to weakly cohesive but with some brown (10YR 5/3) organic stained aggregates; some foreign particles;
680c
25
–
45
cm
light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) bouldery sand; loose; rock is platy disaggregated granodiorite with the sand fraction filling the fissures; indistinct boundary,
680d
45
–
50
cm
light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) bouldery sand; sand is loose between interlocked boulders; sharp boundary,