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A simple visual technique for estimating the impact of fieldwork on the terrestrial environment in ice-free areas of Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

I. B. Campbell ,
M. R. Balks  and
G. G. C. Claridge
I. B. Campbell
Affiliation:
Land & Soil Consultancy Services, 23 View Mount, Nelson, New Zealand
M. R. Balks
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
G. G. C. Claridge
Affiliation:
Land & Soil Consultancy Services, 23 View Mount, Nelson, New Zealand
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Abstract

A set of simple criteria for visual assessment of the effects of low-intensity fieldwork in ice-free areas of Antarctica was developed. These criteria were tested by using them to examine the impact of soil science investigations, both immediately and some time after disturbance, at Marble Point and at Cape Evans, on the shores of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The use of these criteria showed that for some types of impacts there had been a marked recovery of the surface with time, ranging from 22 months to 30 years. This was apparently due to repeated freeze and thaw of the soil surface and, to a lesser extent, to the influence of wind, which had partly or completely obliterated some of the earlier disturbances. More durable features remained, while deeper surface impressions, such as old soil inspection pits and vehicle tracks, showed little recovery after more than 30 years. Some biological colonisation of areas disturbed 30 years previously was occurring.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 29 , Issue 171 , October 1993 , pp. 321 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

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