assessment of environmental impacts from past human activities at Vanda Station; sampled at a site which although not obviously disturbed is near a toilet and a waste disposal site
Description:
approximately 90m south southeast from the main Vanda building and 25.5m south southwest of the toilet building; on the floor of a shallow gully in which smooth granodiorite rock outcrops
Altitude:
90 m
Aspect:
Slope:
0 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 31.67' S 161° 40.98' E
77° 0.0' S 161° 40.0' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.52780 161.68300
-77.000 161.667
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.00008 0.00008
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
2
10.8
32
0.8
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-20
°C
Frozen ground depth:
35 cm
Frozen type:
ice-cemented
Frozen comment:
35
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; subsequent to glaciation, the terrain has been subjected to drowning and emergence from fluctuating lake levels from Lake Vanda with some sorting or resorting of surficial materials; crumbled granodiorite bedrock occurs at this site
Patterned ground:
Surface weathering or surface features:
a pebble pavement of subangular to subrounded clasts; some salt precipitations at the edge of moist zones on the gully floor
Soil
Soil parent material:
crumbled granodiorite bedrock with a thin cover of pebbly sand aeolian drift
Previous disturbance:
foot trafficking, probably some vehicle trafficking and some rubbish disposal nearby