THE GRAIN-SIZE BEHAVIOR AND MORPHOSCOPY OF SUPRAGLACIAL SEDIMENTS, SOUTH OF SCHIRMACHER OASIS, E. ANTARCTICA

The present study embodies the description of textural characteristics and quartz grain morphology (under SEM) of sediments occurring in thr ee micro-environments on the polar ice sheet. Coarse to fine grained, largely ill-sorted sediments with a polymodal distribution reflect a v arying magnitude in the velocity of the transporting medium. A dominan t saltation population with little suspension and lack of rolling popu lation is revealed by cumulative curves which suggests transportation of these supraglacial sediments by wind. The quarts grains bear two ge nerations of mechanical textures and a third phase of chemical texture s attributed to glacial and aeolian environments.