Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/5986
Title: Deep core drilling in the Ross Ice Shelf, Little America V, Antarctica
Authors: Arctic Institute of North America
Ragle, Richard H.
Hansen, B. Lyle
Gow, A. J. (Anthony Jack)
Patenaude, Robert W.
Keywords: Drilling
Drill core analysis
Coring
Ice cores
Ice core analysis
Antarctica
Little America V, Antarctica
Glaciers
Glacier ice
Glaciology
Boring
Equipment
EPOLAR
Publisher: U.S. Army Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Research Establishment.
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: SIPRE report ; 70.
Description: Technical report
Summary: Drilling operations and core and drill hole investigations at Little America V in Oct. - Dec. 1958, as well as measurements at Byrd Station in Dec. 1958 are discussed. The hole at Little America V reached 836 ft, and core recovery was 98% of the footage drilled. No saline ice was found in the bottom core, indicating that the bottom ice is melting. In detailed stratigraphic studies made to a depth of 53 m, summer snow deposits were coarse-grained and often associated with icy crusts, ice layers, and glands. Winter deposits were finer-grained, more homogeneous, and lacked the soaked appearance of summer snow. Periods of 2-3 consecutive years at more or less regular intervals of 10-20 yr showed intense ice formation. Layers of foreign material, tentatively identified as volcanic ash, were observed at 172.1 m, 219.4 m, and 222.8 m. The depth-density curve steepened between 20.7 and 36.5 m. If annual precipitation is estimated as 21 cm of water, Little America V rests on about 1225 yr of accumulated snow. Data (some of a preliminary nature) are tabulated and graphed: the depth-density profile to a depth of 53 m, the nature of ice at various depths, spot densities below 53 m, and the annual increments at depth and corresponding water equivalents at Little America V; ice temperature at various depths at both stations; and depth-inclination measurements as well as the diam.-vs.-depth curve at Byrd Station. The future research program at Little America V is outlined.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/5986
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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