For determination of sources and levels of soil contaminants around Scott Base
Description:
SS2 T1; this site is located at the south end of the geomagnetics area, 4.7m from the N corner of the southern most Wannagan building at Scott Base; the site is a slight knoll which is partly surrounded by a snow bank
Altitude:
20 m
Aspect:
E
Slope:
2 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 51' S 166° 46' E
77° 51' S 166° 48' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.850 166.767
-77.850 166.800
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.008 0.008
0.008 0.008
Locality
Pram Point, Scott Base
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Coastal mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-18
°C
Frozen ground depth:
15 cm
Frozen type:
Ice-cemented
Frozen comment:
15
Geology
Geological setting:
The materials comprise volcanics of the McMurdo Volcanics Formation mainly as scoriaceous lava flows; the surface materials are a thin cover of mainly fractured bedrock with addition of some glacially derived granular and pebble clasts from outside the immediate area; the volcanic bedrock has been considerably fractured by patterned ground freeze thaw; the surface age is probably very late Pleistocene (Ross Sea Glaciation) having been modified by McMurdo Sound filling glacial ice
Patterned ground:
Weakly developed and without distinctive trough expression or well developed net pattern; the knoll may form the ceentre of a patterned ground unit
Surface weathering or surface features:
Some salt efflorescences are present; no visible surface weathering of the scoria; scoria boulders are 30-40cm across
Soil
Soil parent material:
Fragmented bouldery volcanic bedrock with some additions of glaciogenic finer materials, in part with some modification by slope drift and patterned ground-forming processes
Previous disturbance:
Previous mechanical disturbance of this site is probably very limited and related to building construction; being within the geomagnetic area, the area is comparitively undisturbed