Ross Sea Region Soil Sites

Hatherton Glacier, Darwin Mountains, Transantarctic Mountains

Soil weathering examination

United States Geological Survey 1966; 1:250,000 Carlyon Glacier, Antarctica

cf. Notes for DESCR below

cf. Notes for GEOLAND below

Permanent snow cover

SOIL MOISTURE STATUS

Frozen till beneath consolidated snowpack

SOIL PARENT MATERIAL

SURFACE WEATHERING or

SURFACE FEATURES

PREVIOUS DISTURBANCE

yellowish brown (10YR 5/6 moist) sandy gravel

rock particles subangular to subrounded, unstained but easily disaggregated

NB: the rock particles in the sample have a very dark, almost blackish look and crush easily - the unusual dark

colour is suggestive of anoxic weathering conditions

FROZEN GROUND DEPTH(cm)

SOIL WEATHERING STAGE

The Darwin Mountains, just to the south of the Midnight Plateau; the site is near site 338 but from beneath a consolidated snowpack; the snow forms a

continuous cover merging into the Midnight Plateau ice field; the soil beneath 60cm of hard snow was examined to compare soil weathering from beneath the

snow cover with that at site 338 beyond the snowpack

Rock outcrops on the area are Ferrar Dolerite; the ground surfaces have been exposed following retreat of ice from the Midnight Plateau; close to the ice edge,

the soils appear less weathered but distinct successional surfaces marking ice retreat are not present; with increasing distance away from the ice front, soil

weathering increases; the weathering is probably relict and unrelated to the present ice cover

Vol. Moisture

Drill Vol

Vol. Moisture

(BD=2)

Soluble Salt

Concentration

Gravimetric

Moisture

Part. Size

0.02-0.002

Part. Size

0.05-0.02