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Impacts of geoscience research on the physical environment of the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 13:02 authored by Kiernan, K, McConnell, A
Antarctic polar deserts can be of considerable scientific interest, but can also exhibit great environmental sensitivity. A variety of factors, including Australia's legal obligations under the Madrid Protocol, public expectations, certain research opportunities and ethical considerations, demand a very high standard of environmental protection. A survey outside the Davis Station limits in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, identified 66 sites at which past human activities had left long-term impacts on the physical environment. Nearly half of all observed impacts were the result of geoscientific research that had left old pit and trench sites, vehicular tracks, partly excavated palaeontological material, rock sampling and drilling sites, localised slope instability caused by disturbance, and discarded equipment and markers. Comparisons between rehabilitated sites and others where little, if any, rehabilitation appears to have been attempted suggest natural processes alone are generally insufficient to heal the damage, but that effective rehabilitation is often possible if undertaken immediately after the initial disturbance.

History

Publication title

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

Volume

48

Issue

5

Pagination

767-776

ISSN

0812-0099

Department/School

School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Science Asia

Place of publication

Carlton, Australia

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments not elsewhere classified

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