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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 2000-01: VUWAE 45

15) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

15) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

i.

Site 1: Lake Vida, DVDP-6 (S 77°22 42.75854; E 161°48 59.57237); 9 Nov - 20 Nov; 11 days; 4 people; 44 person days; core drilling and remediation around old hole DVDP-6 (see attached Table for core taken at this site)

Site 2: Trudge Valley, Allan Hills (approx. S 76°42 18.0; E 159°47 24.0) 23 Nov - 4 Dec; 10 days; 6 people; 60 person days; coring Sirius Group deposits (see attached Table for core taken)

Site 3: Battleship Promontory (S 76° 54.971; E 161° 01.739) 4 Dec (10:15am - 12:45pm); 4 people; sampling and collecting endolithic algae from the Beacon Orthoquartzite; 10kg of rock collected.

Site 4: Table Mountain (approx. S 77°57 37.0; E 161°57 45.0) 8 Dec - 16 Dec; 9 days; 5 people; 45 person days; coring Sirius and patterned ground (see attached Table for core taken)

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ii.

No protected areas were visited by event members. However, endolithic algae were collected at Battleship Promontory and perhaps this area should be considered as a protected area in the future.

iii.

Event members did not interfere with any wildlife.

iv.

Shallow core was taken from each of the three sites as detailed in the table below. The nature of the core varied from glacial dimict to well sorted sandstone. All of the core was ice cemented. An average density of the core was 2.65g/cc which, for a 60mm diameter core, is 7.5 kg /metre. The extracted weight of the total core was 319kg.

Cores from Holes Drilled for K047A (See attached maps for hole locations)
AREA HOLE # DATE (2000) START DEPTH (m) TOTAL DEPTH (m) TOTAL CORE RECOVERED (m)
Lake Vida PC-5 11/11 0 1.89 1.89
PC-4 11/11 0 1.81 1.66
PC-1 12/11 0 2.45 2.17
PC-6 12/11 0 1.37 1.25
PC-7 13/12 0 2.06 1.89
PC-3 13/11 0 1.82 1.70
PC-2 13/11 0 1.84 1.63
PC-8 14/11 0 1.93 1.80
PC-9 14/11 0 1.99 1.91
17.16 15.90 (119kg)
Allan Hills (Trudge Valley) AH-T-1 24-26/11 0 4.23 2.30
AH-T-2 28-30/11 0 8.38 5.90
12.61 8.20 (62kg)
Table Mt TM-00-1 8-10/12 0.44 6.30 5.66
TM-00-2 12/12 0.24 2.70 2.03
TM-00-3 13/12 0.14 2.17 1.95
TM-00-4 14/12 0.48 3.21 2.73
TM-00-5 14/12 0.12 1.83 1.71
TM-00-6 15/12 0.14 4.40 4.26
20.81 18.34 (138kg)page break
Total 50.58 42.44 (319kg)
v.No hazardous chemicals, other than fuels and lubricating oils, were taken into the field. All unused fuels and oils were returned to Scott Base. However, a note on the use of fuels and oils in the field is necessary. All kero for cooking was supplied in 20l plastic containers. These containers had fittings for taps, but taps for dispensing the fuel were not supplied. It is virtually impossible to pour a full 20l container into a two litre container for use in the tent without spillage. Taps for the 20l containers should be made available to field parties. Scott Base field managers should describe the use of the taps to all field parties. Portable plastic berms, borrowed from the US program at Lake Vida, were used for our fuelling operation of drilling equipment. These portable berms are light weight and fold into a small size and a variety of sizes should be purchased by Antarctica NZ.
vi.Explosives were not used by this event.
vii.No animals, plants, were imported to or removed from Antarctica by members of this event.
viii.One thermistor probe was left in each of two holes (TM-00-2 and TM-00-5) drilled at Table Mt (approx loc.S 77°57 37.0; E 161°57 45.0). Each probe was 6mm in diameter, 2 m long and suspended in the hole with open-cell armaflex pipe insulation. Cables from the probe were attached to a controller box (500x400x200mm) fitted with a solar panel and a space case (550x500x500mm) containing two 75Ah, sealed lead-acid batteries. These probes will be down loaded in November 2001 and reprogrammed for an additional year.
ix.Daily activity by event members required tramping across desert pavement, rock and snow surfaces at the field sites. Disturbance to these surfaces, was also caused by the portable drilling equipment, which was set up, used and taken apart. Several small shallow pits were dug at each site to determine the depth to the ground ice. All of the pits were back-filled and disturbed desert pavement surfaces were raked and swept to restore them as best as possible to their original state. However, skid marks and oil droppings left behind by various helicopter movements were not restored. The loss of hydraulic oil from helicopters working in the Dry Valleys remains a serious source of pollution.
x.For some reason, 60l greywater barrels were not issued at Scott Base this season, but they were replaced with 20l disposable plastic containers. Conservatively, the average person produces about 2l (urine + kitchen) of greywater per day. Our event was issued four 20l containers for Allan Hills and Table Mt. We used up all four at Allan Hills (60 person days x 2l = 120l total greywater) and as a consequence, we were forced to freeze buckets of greywater and set them out to ablate in the wind. In addition, the 20l containers were in short supply at Scott Base, and we ran short of them at Table Mt as well. We strongly recommend that for large (>3 persons) field parties, 60l barrels are used in the future to avoid the dumping of greywater. (approx 40l at Allan Hills and 20l at Table Mt were dumped)