on the floor of a gently sloping small gully; a small nivation cirque formed in the volcanic deposits and situated about 250m up slope and to the NW of Scott Base; this site is situated 3m down slope from the initial 1989/90 site of application of LiCl
Altitude:
95 m
Aspect:
SE
Slope:
4 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
75° 50' S 166° 45' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-75.83 166.75
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.08 0.04
Locality
Pram Point near Scott Base
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
coastal mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-18
°C
Frozen ground depth:
20 cm
Frozen type:
hard ice-cemented
Frozen comment:
20
Geology
Geological setting:
the deposit comprises old scoria flows of the McMurdo Volcanics with the surface rock being fragmented mainly into cobble and boulder sized clasts; commonly found are small rounded pebbles of granitic and sedimentary rocks and these are probably derived from the mainland, having been transported by the former expanded Ross Sea Glacier, and deposited as it retreated from Ross Island
Patterned ground:
weakly developed
Surface weathering or surface features:
non to weakly developed
Soil
Soil parent material:
predominantly fragmented basaltic scoria, probably with minor inclusions of glaciogenic detritus
Previous disturbance:
the site is in an area which is subject to relatively high human impact from walking, cable laying etc; there have been previous disturbances at the sample locality from establishing the leaching trial and subsequent samplings from adjacent plots; the site earlier had a semi-permanent snow cover but this has disappeared as a result of human activity
xerous to subxerous; the site receives annual snowfall and also a considerable accumulation of drift snow which lies until early January before thawing; thaw results in the site becoming wet with surface water flows for short periods
Biological activity:
nil at site but some lichen and small moss patches in the general area
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
715a
-1
–
0
cm
olive to pale olive (5Y 5/3-6/3) sandy to silty pebble to boulder gravel; loose; moist; some salts precipitated at the surface; rock particles subrounded, subangular and unweathered; sharp boundary,
715b
0
–
5
cm
olive to pale olive (5Y 5/3-6/3) cobbly sandy gravel; moderately cohesive; moist; rock particles subrounded, subangular and unweathered; indistinct boundary,
715c
5
–
10
cm
pale olive (5Y 6/3) cobbly gravely sand; moderately cohesive; moist; rock particles subrounded, subangular and unweathered; indistinct boundary,
715d
10
–
20
cm
pale olive (5Y 6/3) cobbly gravelly sand; moderately cohesive; moist; rock particles subangular, subrounded and unweathered; sharp boundary,
715e
20
–
25
cm
pale olive (5Y 6/3) cobbly gravelly sand; very hard; ice cemented; rock particles subangular and unweathered;
715f
25
–
34
cm
] drill core; grey (5Y 5/1) scoriaceous basalt with some