On the north side of Lake Vanda, opposite and north of Vanda Station on a broad even sloping lake bench/fan surface about 200m from the lake edge; two sites were established across the slope and approximately 20m apart and were marked by pegs; the sites are adjacent 1 metre square plots onto which LiCl (3 plots) and H2O (1 plot) were irrigated; the plots will be sampled at intervals in subsequent years to determine the rate of movement of LiCl from or within the plots and to compare the rates of movement with that found for a similar experiment at Scott Base; this site was from the edge of one of the plots on which H20 only had been added
Altitude:
200 m
Aspect:
S
Slope:
8 °
Location Data
Observer
IBC
GGC
GPS
No
Latitude Longitude DMS
77° 31.3' S 161° 39' E
77° 31.3' S 161° 39.0' E
Latitude Longitude DD
-77.5217 161.650
-77.5217 161.650
Latitude longitude precision DD
0.0008 0.008
0.0008 0.008
Locality
Wright Valley near Lake Vanda
Survey
not recorded
Climate
Soil climate zone:
Central Mountain
Estimated mean annual temperature:
-23
°C
Frozen ground depth:
0 cm
Frozen type:
Dry frozen
Frozen comment:
Geology
Geological setting:
The site lies within the zone of lake benches formed by former rises in level of Lake Vanda and the deposits are probably lake sediments that have been resorted from fan gravels and older glacial till deposits; reworking of the sediments takes place primarily by gentle wave action during periods when there has been seasonal thawing of the lake margin; periodic low energy flows from nearby fans may have contributed some sediment; the sediments are primarily fine gravelly sands
Patterned ground:
A broad weakly developed rectangular net pattern with shallow troughs, predominantly sand filled
Surface weathering or surface features:
The surface has a weakly developed pebble pavement with occasional cobble clasts; there is little surface staining; larger clasts show some abrasion and moderate ventifaction
Soil
Soil parent material:
Fine gravelly sand from fan sediments with lake edge reworking
Previous disturbance:
Not previously disturbed apart from some occasional foot trafficking
Xerous; no readily available source of water; there may be occasional flows from associated fan surfaces with possibly some occasional subsurface moisture flows
Biological activity:
None observed
Profile Description
Horizon
Depth
Description
763f
pale olive (5Y 6/3) gravelly sand; weakly cohesive
763a
-2
–
0
cm
surface pebble pavement; subangular moderately ventifiorm dolerite and subangular granodiorite;
763b
0
–
5
cm
pale olive (5Y 6/3) gravelly sand; loose,
763c
5
–
10
cm
pale olive gravelly sand, loose,
763d
10
–
20
cm
pale olive gravelly sand, loose,
763e
25
–
30
cm
pale olive (5Y 6/3) gravelly sand; weakly cohesive,