Soil contamination studies Vanda Station from a series of sites spaced 1m apart; to determine if contaminants are being redistributed through the soils as a result of capillary movement and evaporation of moisture
Description:
VT2 h; second traverse commencing 6m from the lake edge at the mouth of greywater gully, approximately 50m east of the Vanda Station buildings; 8 samples collected at 1m intervals from near the lake edge, in a westerly direction across the wetting front
Altitude:
93 m
Aspect:
SE
Slope:
6 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 31.3' S 161° 40.4' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.5217 161.6730
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.0008 0.0008
Locality
Vanda Station, Wright Valley
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Central Mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-20
°C
Frozen ground depth:
0 cm
Frozen type:
Frozen comment:
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, of subaerial weathering; subsequent to glaciation, the terrain has been subjected to submergence and emergence from fluctuating lake water levels from Lake Vanda with some associated sorting and resorting of surface materials; bedrock is at shallow depth on the gully floor
Patterned ground:
Nil
Surface weathering or surface features:
A loose granular to small pebble pavement between common granodiorite and lamprophyre surface cobbles
Soil
Soil parent material:
Cobbly granular sand over granodiorite bedrock
Previous disturbance:
Disturbance from previous activities at Vanda Station includes trampling and some accumulation of foreign materials