125

Site number:

125

Authors:

IBC, GGC

Date recorded:

1965/01/14

Reason Sampled:

Soil characterisation

Description:

Approximately .4km SE of Webb Lake; on the valley floor on a young moraine surface; the topography is hummocky with a distinct knob and kettle topography; the site is just below the crest of a small knoll

Altitude:

675 m

Aspect:

NE

Slope:

3 °

Climate

Soil climate zone:

Central mountains

Estimated mean annual temperature:

-23 °C

Frozen ground depth:

43 cm

Frozen type:

Hard ice-cemented

Frozen comment:

43cm

Geology

Geological setting:

Webb Glacier in the upper Barwick Valley has retreated and left a series of till deposits and moraine surfaces of differing ages; the site is on moraines mapped by Calkin as Packard Drift (youngest); the main rock types in the area are dolerite, granite, granodiorite and Beacon Group sediments and the tills have these rocks in them; the dry valleys have a complex glacial history with interacting Alpine, Ross Ice Shelf and Polar Ice Sheet glaciers

Patterned ground:

Hummocky terrain is probably related to ablation and patterned ground formation

Surface weathering or surface features:

Surface boulders up to 1m but mostly much smaller; mainly subangular; no cavernous weathering or exfoliation; some salts beneath surface stones

Soil

Soil parent material:

Young till (Packard Drift) from dolerite, sandstone and granitic rocks;

Previous disturbance:

Nil

Soil weathering stage:

2 (Campbell & Claridge 1975)

Soil moisture status:

Xerous to subxerous; the site is dry and not subject to seepage; soil moisture only from periodic snowfall

Biological activity:

Nil observed