Ross Sea Region Soil Sites
136000
136
19-Jan-1965
IBC, GGC
Victoria Land, Trans-antarctic Mountains; in Upper Victoria Valley, part of the McMurdo Sound Dry Valley system
Soil characterisation
USGS 1:250 000 1986; Ross Island and Vicinity, Antarctica
B&W Pro & CS Lscp
No
161.5550
-77.3250
77deg 19.5'S
-161deg -33.3'E
About 2km SSE of Upper Victoria Glacier and on the northeast side of Upper Victoria Lake; a hummocky recent lateral/terminal moraine surface of the Upper Victoria Glacier
0
Nil
600
cf. Notes for GEOLAND below
(0o)
Xerous to subxerous; hollows are moist
-23
Central mountains
Fluvially reworked and sorted sandy sediments with a thin drift mantle
Algae in ponds
Well developed 10m polygons with active 1m deep cracks and raised borders; much windblown sand in polygon cracks
SURFACE WEATHERING or |
SURFACE FEATURES |
Well developed pebble pavement; some salts beneath larger surface stones
Nil
136a 0-3cm
201
pale brown (10YR 6/3) granular coarse sand
202
weakly cohesive forming a thin crust
203
moderately developed vesicular structure
204
rock particles rounded to subrounded with ferromagnesian rich particles non to weakly stained and quartz |
particles weakly to moderately stained |
205
abrupt boundary,
136b 3-20cm
301
yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) granular coarse sand
302
loose
303
rock particles rounded with quartz particles weakly to moderately stained
304
indistinct boundary,
136c 20-45cm
401
brown (10YR 5/3) granular coarse sand
402
loose
403
rock particles rounded and weakly stained with some partly altered
404
sharp boundary,
136d 45-48cm
501
brown (10YR 5/3) granular coarse sand
502
very hard
503
ice cemented
504
rock particles rounded, weakly stained with some partly altered
2-0cm
101
surface pebbles granules and coarse sand
102
mainly subrounded and weakly stained to unstained,
Yes
a,b,c,d
Hard ice-cemented
40
2
(40cm)
Geoland
Tills in this part of Upper Victoria Valley were mapped by Calkin (1964) as Packard Drift; the deposits vary greatly in character and in many places may have |
been reworked by fluvial or aeolian processes and are sandy or fine gravelly; scattered surface boulders overlying sands have probably been dropped from |
retreating ice onto proglacial sediments |
Soluble Salt |
Concentration |
13600001
136a
0-3cm
0
3
none
13600002
136b
3-20cm
3
20
none
13600003
136c
20-45cm
20
45
none
13600004
136d
45-48cm
45
48
none
12-Dec-2005
Page 136 of 896
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