Weathering Stages of a Tholeiitic Basalt (Dolerite), Queen Maud Mountains

• Main Author: Mayewski, Paul Andrew
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@UMaine 1976
• Subjects: Glaciogeology; Geochemistry; Glaciology; Cryology; Climate Change; Earth Sciences; Hydrology; Sedimentology; Shackleton Glacier; Victoria Land
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/212; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1217/viewcontent/WeatheringStagesofaTholeiiticBasaltDoleriteQueenMaudMountaints.pdf

The sparsity of datable material and key horizons throughout most of the Transantarctic Mountains requires that much of the mapping and correlation of glacial deposits, especially moraines, be based primarily on qualitative techniques. One qualitative method is to characterize the degree of weathering of clasts covering these deposits (Behling, 1971; Calkin, 1971; Nichols, 1971; and Mayewski, 1975). Lacking, however, is a detailed understanding of the role and method of weathering. To help solve this problem, soil studies have been made by Claridge and Campbell (1968) in the Shackleton Glacier region and Everett and Behling (1968), Linkletter (1972), Behling (1971), and Everett (1971) in the dry valleys of southern Victoria Land. Studies on individual lithologies (see,for example, Kelly and Zumberge, 1961) demonstrate the need for more sharply delimited studies,and we are examining a weathering suite of tholeiitic basalts (dolerites) from a site in the Queen Maud Mountains.