Abstract:
To investigate the nature and origin of massive ground ice and to establish whether it has the potential to yield palaeoclimatic data, a set of shallow ice cores and samples were collected from Columnar Valley and Pearce Valley for chemical analysis and cosmogenic isotope dating. In addition to the ice core, pit soil profiles were obtained by sampling the pit walls and the surface material on
... site to clarify any possible relationship of the ice and the overlying sediments. A total of 6 pits from Columnar Valley were dug and sampled and 16 pits were dug out of which three were also cored and sampled. Soil pit samples and cores were analysed with Optical Stimulated Luminescence of selected samples, stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes and 10Be dating of the ice core, major anion and cation chemistry of soluble salts for the soil sample. 
