TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS

The 'Transantarctic Mountains' () (abbreviated ''TAM'') are a mountain range in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land. These mountains serve as the division between East Antarctica and West Antarctica. They include a number of separately named mountain groups, which are often again subdivided into smaller ranges.

Contents

Geography

History

Geology

See Also

Subranges

Major glaciers

External links

Geography

The mountain range stretches between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea the entire length of Antarctica, thence the name. It reaches heights of more than 4,500 ms. At between 100 and 300 km wide the range forms the boundary between the east Antarctic and the west Antarctic ice sheets. The summits of the mountains are some of the few places that break through the Antarctic ice sheet emerging as nunataks. The Dry Valleys lie near McMurdo Sound and represent a special Antarctic phenomenon: landscapes that are snow and ice free due to the extremely limited precipitation and ablation of ice in the valleys.
With a total length of about 3,500 km, the Transantarctic Mountains are one of the longer mountain ranges on Earth. The highest mountain is 4,528 m high Mount Kirkpatrick in the Queen Alexandra Range.

History

The Transantarctic Mountains were first seen by Captain James Ross in 1841 from the Ross Sea. The range is a natural barrier that must be crossed to reach the South Pole from the Ross Ice Shelf. In 1908, while not making the pole, Ernest Shackleton's party was the first to cross the mountains, using the Beardmore Glacier. Robert Scott returned to the Beardmore in 1911, while Roald Amundsen crossed the range via the Axel Heiberg Glacier.
The name "Transantarctic Mountains" were recommended in 1962 by the US-ACAN committee, a US authority for geographic names. This purely descriptive label (in contrast to many other geographic names of the seventh continent) is internationally accepted at present.
The Leverett Glacier in the Queen Maud Mountains is the planned route through the TAM for the overland supply road between McMurdo Station and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

Geology

Main articles: Geology of Antarctica

The Transantarctic Mountains are considerably older than other mountain ranges of the continent that are mainly volcanic in origin. The mountains consist mainly of sandstone and dolerite formed up to 400 million years ago (during the Silurian period). Many of the fossils found in Antarctica are from locations within the Transantarctic Mountains. The range was uplifted during the opening of the West Antarctic Rift to the east, beginning about 65 million years ago in the early Cenozoic.
Ice from the East Antarctic ice sheet flows through the Transantarctic Mountains in a series of outlet glaciers into the Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. These glaciers generally flow perpendicular to the orientation of the range and define subranges and peak groups.

See Also

Subranges

★ Victoria Land

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★ Concord Mountains

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★ Admiralty Mountains

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★ Victory Mountains

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★ Prince Albert Mountains

★ Queen Alexandra Range

★ Queen Maud Mountains

★ Horlick Mountains

★ Thiel Mountains

★ Pensacola Mountains

★ Shackleton Range

★ Theron Mountains

Major glaciers

★ Ferrar Glacier

★ Taylor Glacier

★ Beardmore Glacier

★ Shackleton Glacier

★ Amundsen Glacier

★ Scott Glacier

★ Reedy Glacier

External links

★ Map of the Transantarctic Mountains

★ Tectonics of the Transantarctic Mountains

★ Transantarctic Mountains at Peakbagger.com