soil moisture investigation to characterise the soil moisture profile of a soil following a heavy snowfall
Description:
on a small knoll approximately 250m west of the Marble Point air facility buildings
Altitude:
70 m
Aspect:
Slope:
0 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 25' S 163° 41' E
77° 24.8' S 163° 40.8' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.42 163.683
-77.4133 163.6800
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.04 0.008
0.0008 0.0008
Locality
Marble Point, on the western side of McMudo Sound
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
coastal mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-18
°C
Frozen ground depth:
40 cm
Frozen type:
ice cemented
Frozen comment:
40
Geology
Geological setting:
basement rocks at Marble Point include marble, gneiss, granodiorites etc. which are exposed to the east but largely covered with thin stony till deposits towards the Wilson Piedmont Glacier to the west; the tills are mainly young and unweathered but in places overlie older more weathered till; The marble point area in the vicinity of the air facility was heavily disturbed in the 1950's for the construction of a land runway
Patterned ground:
weakly developed
Surface weathering or surface features:
some rounding of surface clasts wit weak patchy staining in places
Soil
Soil parent material:
stony young till
Previous disturbance:
probably some disturbance due to walking
Soil weathering stage:
Soil moisture status:
xerous to subxerous; sampled 25cm from edge of a recent snow cover
Biological activity:
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
710a
-2 – 0 cm
surface pavement; loose; moist,
710b
0 – 8 cm
granular to cobbly sand; loose; moist,
710c
8 – 16 cm
granular to cobbly sand; loose to moderately cohesive; slightly moist,
710d
16 – 24 cm
pebbly silty sand; moderately cohesive,
710e
24 – 32 cm
silty to sandy pebbly to cobbly gravel; loose,
710f
32 – 40 cm
silty to sandy pebble to cobble gravel; moderately cohesive,