Vegetation History and Environmental Change on Macquarie Island

Metadata record for data expected from ASAC Project 777, Vegetation History and Environmental Change on Macquarie Island Studied by Analysing Present Vegetation and the Underlying Peat on Slopes Subject to Peat Slides.

See the link below for public details on this project.

This project provided funding for a PhD thesis, and all known publications associated with the project are listed in the reference section below.

From the abstract of some of the referenced papers:

We describe a peat core sampler which uses one cutting head on as many coring tubes as necessary. We also offer practical solutions to overcome difficulties of labeling sample tubes when working in wet conditions.

Reports of the mass movement of peat in the Southern Hemisphere are few. They occur in environments substantially different to those where peat slides, flows and bog bursts occur in the Northern Hemisphere. This study looks at the characteristics of seven translational peat slides on subantarctic Macquarie Island which have occurred since 1980. They have occurred in herb vegetation on a range of slopes between 5 and 35 degrees. Slides range in area between 375 and 1200 square metres. The associations between peat slides, seismic activity and intense rainfall events are discussed. Considerations of the long term stability of vegetated slopes on the islands leads to the conclusion that the failure of these slopes is inevitable.