Ross Sea Region Soil Sites
746000
746
9-Jan-1994
IBC, GGC, DSS
Pram Point, Scott Base
For determination of sources and levels of soil contaminants around Scott Base
not recorded
Pro CS & Lscp
No
166.7500
-75.8333
75deg 50.0'S
-166deg -45.0'E
SS13 T2; approximately 200 m northwest of the water storage tanks on a flattish step in the landscape in a slightly concave slope
0
-
45
cf. Notes for GEOLAND below
The site is on the edge of a moist area that receives moisture from a thawing snow patch
-18
Coastal mountain
Undisturbed; fragmented scoria bedrock materials with probable addition of local glaciogenic drift; some small pebbles of non- volcanic rock types; regolith materials are probably in part formed by reworking of slope deposits
Small patches of lichen nearby
Nil at site but weakly developed nearby
SURFACE WEATHERING or |
SURFACE FEATURES |
Some small salt efflorescences; calcium carbonate on undersides of cobbles and boulders; weak pavement development
Human foot traffic; very few particles of foreign material; some bulldozing for track construction nearby with subsequent permafrost melt out
746a 3-0cm
101
surface cobbles, pebbles and granules forming a weakly developed pavement
746b 0-1cm
201
greyish brown (2.5Y 5/2) gravelly sand
202
loose to weakly cohesive
203
weakly developed vesicular structure
204
sharp boundary,
746c 1-7cm
301
dark greyish brown (2.5Y 4/2) cobbly gravelly sand
302
weakly to moderately cohesive
303
moist
304
distinct boundary,
746d 7-30cm
401
dark greyish brown (2.5Y 4/2) sandy cobble gravel
402
weakly to moderately cohesive
403
sharp boundary, on ice-cemented ground
Yes (IGNS)
Hard ice-cemented
30
1
Geoland
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 |
Soluble Salt |
Concentration |
74600001
746a
3-0cm
-3
0
none
74600002
746b
0-1cm
0
1
none
74600003
746c
1-7cm
1
7
none
74600004
746d
7-30cm
7
30
none
74600001
40.80
1.60
74600002
25.60
4.90
74600003
38.30
6.60
74600004
35.70
5.60
74600005
39.70
5.20
74600001
8.70
1.47
74600002
9.50
0.11
74600003
9.30
0.09
74600004
9.30
0.07
74600005
9.30
0.06
74600001
74600002
74600003
74600004
74600005
12-Dec-2005
Page 708 of 896
746