Characteristics of soils from the Quartermain Mountain area, Antarctica ...

• Main Author: Bockheim, James G
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2007
• Subjects: International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Beacon Valley; Quartermain Mountains; Arena Valley; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; International Polar Year; IPY; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.807625; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.807625

Soil-forming processes and soil development rates are compared and contrasted on glacial deposits in two adjacent and coeval valleys of the Quartermain Mountains, which are important because they display Miocene glacial stratigraphy and some of the oldest landforms in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. More than 100 soil profiles were examined on seven drift sheets ranging from 115 000 to greater than 11.3 million years in age in Beacon Valley and Arena Valley. Although the two valleys contain drifts of similar age, they differ markedly in ice content of the substrate. Whereas Arena Valley generally has 'dry-frozen' permafrost in the upper 1 m and minimal patterned ground, Beacon Valley contains massive ice buried by glacial drift and ice-cored rock glaciers and has ice-cemented permafrost in the upper 1 m and considerable associated patterned ground. Arena Valley soils have twice the rate of profile salt accumulation than Beacon Valley soils, because of lower available soil water and minimal cryoturbation. The ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...