Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic?
Soils in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica generally comprise a surface desert pavement and a seasonally thawed active layer over permafrost. Most soils are formed on regolith such as glacial till or colluvium. Mean annual air temperatures range from -18°C to -24°C with low precipitation. The active...
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Universidad de La Rioja
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:691cbc0fa0964a4d864c7d98aabb469c 2023-05-15T13:59:42+02:00 Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? M. R. Balks T. A. O’Neill 2016-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.2923 https://doaj.org/article/691cbc0fa0964a4d864c7d98aabb469c EN ES eng spa Universidad de La Rioja https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/ojs/index.php/cig/article/view/2923 https://doaj.org/toc/0211-6820 https://doaj.org/toc/1697-9540 0211-6820 1697-9540 doi:10.18172/cig.2923 https://doaj.org/article/691cbc0fa0964a4d864c7d98aabb469c Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica, Vol 42, Iss 2, Pp 415-434 (2016) cryosol gelisol soil temperature geomorphic processes Geography (General) G1-922 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.2923 2022-12-31T07:28:09Z Soils in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica generally comprise a surface desert pavement and a seasonally thawed active layer over permafrost. Most soils are formed on regolith such as glacial till or colluvium. Mean annual air temperatures range from -18°C to -24°C with low precipitation. The active layer ranges in depth from minimal in higher altitude, colder sites, to near 1 m deep at warmer coastal sites in the northern part of the region. Underlying permafrost may be ice-cemented, or dry with no ice cement. In some areas ice-cored moraine occurs where there is a large body of ice within the subsoil permafrost. Two examples of active gully/fan -forming events, one at Cape Evans and one at Lake Vanda are described. At the Cape Evans event water from a small lake thawed and came into contact with the ice in the underlying patterned ground ice-wedge causing the ice-wedge to melt and extensive gully erosion to occur. A fan-building event near Lake Vanda in the Wright Valley resulted in erosive and depositional features covering a horizontal distance of about 3 km and an altitudinal range of about 1400 m. Such occasional events, can be attributed to warmer than average summers, and were first described in the Ross Sea Region in the 1970s. The Cape Evans and Lake Vanda events are examples of active, rapid, landscape processes and show that landscapes are not as static as is often assumed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice permafrost Ross Sea wedge* Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ross Sea Vanda ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-77.533,-77.533) Wright Valley ENVELOPE(161.833,161.833,-77.517,-77.517) Lake Vanda ENVELOPE(161.600,161.600,-77.517,-77.517) Cape Evans ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica 42 2 415 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Spanish |
topic |
cryosol gelisol soil temperature geomorphic processes Geography (General) G1-922 |
spellingShingle |
cryosol gelisol soil temperature geomorphic processes Geography (General) G1-922 M. R. Balks T. A. O’Neill Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
topic_facet |
cryosol gelisol soil temperature geomorphic processes Geography (General) G1-922 |
description |
Soils in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica generally comprise a surface desert pavement and a seasonally thawed active layer over permafrost. Most soils are formed on regolith such as glacial till or colluvium. Mean annual air temperatures range from -18°C to -24°C with low precipitation. The active layer ranges in depth from minimal in higher altitude, colder sites, to near 1 m deep at warmer coastal sites in the northern part of the region. Underlying permafrost may be ice-cemented, or dry with no ice cement. In some areas ice-cored moraine occurs where there is a large body of ice within the subsoil permafrost. Two examples of active gully/fan -forming events, one at Cape Evans and one at Lake Vanda are described. At the Cape Evans event water from a small lake thawed and came into contact with the ice in the underlying patterned ground ice-wedge causing the ice-wedge to melt and extensive gully erosion to occur. A fan-building event near Lake Vanda in the Wright Valley resulted in erosive and depositional features covering a horizontal distance of about 3 km and an altitudinal range of about 1400 m. Such occasional events, can be attributed to warmer than average summers, and were first described in the Ross Sea Region in the 1970s. The Cape Evans and Lake Vanda events are examples of active, rapid, landscape processes and show that landscapes are not as static as is often assumed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. R. Balks T. A. O’Neill |
author_facet |
M. R. Balks T. A. O’Neill |
author_sort |
M. R. Balks |
title |
Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
title_short |
Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
title_full |
Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
title_fullStr |
Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soil and permafrost in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
title_sort |
soil and permafrost in the ross sea region of antarctica: stable or dynamic? |
publisher |
Universidad de La Rioja |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.2923 https://doaj.org/article/691cbc0fa0964a4d864c7d98aabb469c |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-77.533,-77.533) ENVELOPE(161.833,161.833,-77.517,-77.517) ENVELOPE(161.600,161.600,-77.517,-77.517) ENVELOPE(161.550,161.550,-75.100,-75.100) |
geographic |
Ross Sea Vanda Wright Valley Lake Vanda Cape Evans |
geographic_facet |
Ross Sea Vanda Wright Valley Lake Vanda Cape Evans |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice permafrost Ross Sea wedge* |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice permafrost Ross Sea wedge* |
op_source |
Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica, Vol 42, Iss 2, Pp 415-434 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/ojs/index.php/cig/article/view/2923 https://doaj.org/toc/0211-6820 https://doaj.org/toc/1697-9540 0211-6820 1697-9540 doi:10.18172/cig.2923 https://doaj.org/article/691cbc0fa0964a4d864c7d98aabb469c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.2923 |
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Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica |
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42 |
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415 |
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