SOIL INVESTIGATIONS IN INGLEFIELD LAND GREENLAND.
During 1966 pedologic studies were conducted in Inglefield Land, Northwest Greenland (c. 78 deg 31'N., 70 deg 55'W). Climate is typical of the high arctic with the July temperature approximating 40 deg F and the annual precipitation approximating 2 to 6 inches of water. The area has a dese...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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1968
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| Online Access: | http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0670088 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0670088 |
| Summary: | During 1966 pedologic studies were conducted in Inglefield Land, Northwest Greenland (c. 78 deg 31'N., 70 deg 55'W). Climate is typical of the high arctic with the July temperature approximating 40 deg F and the annual precipitation approximating 2 to 6 inches of water. The area has a desert appearance with most of the landscape free of vascular plants. The area has a desert appearance with most of the landscape free of vascular plants. Narrow swales and meadows, however, tend to be wet and covered with a continuous vegetative mat. The Archean basement complex is capped with Paleozoic rocks consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, shale, dolomite, and limestone, together with a few intrusions of diabase. In the study area there is evidence of 3 glacial stages with the earliest ice probably reaching Rensselaer Bay and beyond. A buried organic layer in a glacio-fluvial terrace yielded a C-14 date of 20,800 yr. B. P. Six genetic soils or soil conditions are recognized: (1) Polar Desert soils, (2) Arctic Brown soils, (3) Tundra soils, (4) Soils of the hummocky ground, (5) Soils of the Polar Desert-Tundra interjacence, and (6) Bedrock and Boulder Fields. Mechanical, mineralogical, and chemical analyses of the soils including micromorphology are given. (Author) Prepared in cooperation with Rutgers, the State University, New Brunswick, N. J. |
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