780

Site number:

780

Authors:

IBC, GGC, DSS

Date recorded:

1994/01/25

Reason Sampled:

For determination of sources and levels of soil contaminants around Scott Base

Description:

SS15 T3; 14.5m southeast from the old Scott Base Mess building on a smooth landsurface formed by infilling and landsurface reshaping

Altitude:

12 m

Aspect:

S

Slope:

10 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Coastal mountain

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-18 °C

Frozen ground depth:

30 cm

Frozen type:

Ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

30

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:

Nil

Surface weathering or surface features:

Some surface salt efflorescences are present at the site

Soil

Soil parent material:

Fill materials from local volcanic materials formed for the purpose of landsurface reshaping and general landscaping

Previous disturbance:

The land surface was shaped at the time the old Scott Base Mess Building was relocated; some vehicle traffic

Soil weathering stage:

6 1 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Xerous to subxerous; the soil is moist and soil moisture may partly come from subsurface seepage

Biological activity:

Some patches of algae in hollows and in water seepage areas