Xerous to subxerous; soil is moist below the surface; some moisture derived from small

transient snow banks

SOIL MOISTURE STATUS

Fragmented bouldery volcanic bedrock with some additions of glaciogenic finer materials, in part with some modification by slope drift processes; surface of the soil to approximately 30cm depth was removed by bulldozer

SOIL PARENT MATERIAL

A few small patches of yellow lichen and some moss in the general vicinity

Weakly developed and without distinctive trough expression or well developed net pattern

SURFACE WEATHERING or

SURFACE FEATURES

Surface clasts show some slight wind polsh but no surface oxidation; pavement between larger clasts is predominantly granular- pebble sized; some thin

surface salt accumulations are formed near patches of snow melt

PREVIOUS DISTURBANCE

No evidence of past mechanical disturbance at the immediate trial site area but moderate foot traffic disturbance is very likely; present disturbance includes

the presence of numerous particles of introduced organic and inorganic materials

top of frozen ground

Hard frozen and ice cemented with segregated ice

FROZEN GROUND DEPTH(cm)

SOIL WEATHERING STAGE

A gently sloping area forming a small bench on a moderately steep slope between Crater Hill and the east coast of Ross Island approximately 150m northwest

from the Scott Base buildings; drill hole and access tube site located in the centre of the southern end or the undisturbed part of an experimental area

The deposit comprises volcanics of the McMurdo Volcanics Formation mainly as scoriaceous flows; the surface materials are a thin cover of mainly fractured

bedrock with addition of glacially derived granular and pebble clasts from outside the immediate area; the volcanic bedrock has been considerably fractured by

freeze thaw; the surface age is probably very late Pleistocene (Ross Sea Glaciation) having been modified by McMurdo Sound filling glacial ice