Abstract:
Examination of the cores from the Dry Valley Drilling Project consisted of, among other studies, grain size, pebble and magnetic investigations. Pebble and sediment sampling from known sedimentary environments was needed to get 'baseline' data to help interpret data from the drill core samples. The areas visited included the Taylor Glacier, Table Mountain and the Crary Ice Rise. At the Crary Ice
... Rise, a patch of dirty ice was discovered and investigated to understand the character of sediment trapped in the ice of the Ross Ice Shelf. About 120 samples were taken from a core drilled by the Dry Valley Drilling Project and a further 100 were taken from around Table Mountain, Taylor Glacier and New Harbour for comparative study. Two layers of ground moraine separated by river gravels at 1800m on Table Mountain were found and indicate two distinct periods of temperate glaciation separated by a warm period. Sea water was discovered in a rift on the Crary Ice Rise near the head of the Ross Ice Shelf. The rift, about 15m deep and 2m wide, has a foor of ice 10cm thick, which can easily be broken. The water beneath is salty and has the same freezing point and salinity as normal sea water. Samples collected give data on the nature of the sea beneath the ice shelf. Soundings were also taken around the drill site and show it to be on a broad northeast trending ridge between the submarine extensions of the Ferrar and Taylor Valleys. Bottom samples indicate the sea floor is a mantle of muddy sand with occasional pebbles. 
