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49-664: Download coordinates as: The Clark Mountains are north of the head of the Boyd Glacier , northeast of the Mackay Mountains and east of the Allegheny Mountains. Features include, from west to east, Mount Atwood, Mount Jones, Mount Burnham, Mount Van Valkenburg, Mount Maglione, Mount Ekblaw and the Kelly Nunataks. The Clark Mountains were discovered and photographed on aerial flights in 1940 by

98-580: A camp was operated at the Ford Ranges (FRD) in western Marie Byrd Land, supporting a part of a United States Antarctic Program (USAP) airborne survey initiated by UCSB and supported by the UTIG flying out of Siple Dome. In 2004–05, a large camp, Thwaites (THW) was established by the USAP 150 km (93 mi) north of NBY, in order to support a large airborne geophysical survey of eastern Marie Byrd Land by

147-488: A series of reference points and benchmarks throughout much of Marie Byrd Land during 1966–1968. USS  Glacier  (AGB-4) explored the parts of the Walgreen Coast and Eights Coast in 1960–61. It had parties of geologists and surveyors along that were deployed to outcrops on land. This expedition to the far eastern reaches of Marie Byrd Land determined that Thurston Peninsula as proposed by earlier expeditions

196-554: A sledging party of the ByrdAE, which visited this area in November-December 1934, and so named because of its extensively crevassed surface. Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land ( MBL ) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica . With an area of 1,610,000 km (620,000 sq mi), it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd , who explored

245-641: Is an ice shelf about 85 nautical miles (157 km; 98 mi) long and 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) wide bordering the coast of Marie Byrd Land between Edward VII Peninsula and Guest Peninsula in Antarctica. The Sulzberger Ice Shelf was observed and roughly mapped by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition (ByrdAE; 1928-30), which applied the name Sulzberger Bay to the open water indenting this feature. The United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) extended

294-462: Is based upon Byrd's exploration. Because of its remoteness, even by Antarctic standards, most of Marie Byrd Land (the portion east of 150°W) has not been claimed by any sovereign state . It is by far the largest single unclaimed territory on Earth , with an area of 1,610,000 km (620,000 sq mi), including Eights Coast , immediately east of Marie Byrd Land. In 1939, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed members of

343-589: Is smaller. Prominent ranges include the Ford Ranges in western MBL, The Flood Range , the Executive Committee Range, and the Kohler Range . The Ford Ranges are the most extensive and include more than six individual named mountain groups. The Executive Committee Range includes five volcanoes, some proposed to be dormant or active. The Flood Range comprises a linear chain of Neogene and Quaternary age volcanoes. The Fosdick mountains in

392-680: Is the Russian station Russkaya , which was occupied 1980–1990 and is now closed. East of the Siple Coast off the Ross Ice Shelf, Siple Dome was established as a summer science camp in 1996. Ice cores have been drilled here to retrieve the climate history of the last 100,000 years. This camp also served as a base for airborne geophysical surveys supported by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). In 1998–1999,

441-633: The Bindschadler and Whillans ice streams are the most extensive. The seven ice streams discharge 40 percent of the WAIS. Besides the Ross Ice Shelf, significant ice shelves on the coast of the Southern Ocean include the Sulzberger , and Nickerson . Due to the burial of the continental basement of MBL by the WAIS, mountain ranges are exposed towards the coast of MBL where ice thickness

490-638: The Fosdick Mountains in 1934. Aerial exploration discovered lands farther east along the Ruppert Coast . The Third Byrd Antarctic Expedition, also called the United States Antarctic Service Expedition , took place from 1939 to 1941. This expedition established two base camps 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) apart. West Base was near the former Little America base (68° 29' S, 163° 57' W) and East Base

539-659: The International Geophysical Year (IGY; from July 1957 to end of 1958) that saw several exploratory overland traverses with tractor trains ( Sno-cats and modified bulldozers ). Starting in January 1957 (pre-IGY) Charles R. Bentley led a traverse from Little America V to the new Byrd station along the route blazed by United States Army engineers a few months before (the Army-Navy Drive ). His team conducted measurements of ice thickness and of

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588-799: The Swanson Mountains on the north and Mount Rea and Mount Cooper on the south, in the Ford Ranges. Discovered by members of West Base of the US AS, in aerial flights and from ground surveys in November-December 1940. Named by US-SCAN for R. Admiral Arthur C. Davis, United States Navy, a leader in aviation in the United States Navy. 76°46′S 145°30′W  /  76.767°S 145.500°W  / -76.767; -145.500 . A broad glacier about 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) long, flowing west-southwest between Chester Mountains and Saunders Mountain . Discovered by

637-1036: The United States Antarctic Service (USAS) and named for Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts . 77°16′S 142°17′W  /  77.267°S 142.283°W  / -77.267; -142.283 . A mountain, 1,180 metres (3,870 ft) high, at the west edge of the Clark Mountains. Discovered by the USAS in 1940 on aerial flights from the West Base. Named by the USAS for the late president emeritus W.W. Atwood, Sr., of Clark University, noted geologist and geographer, and his son, W.W. Atwood, Jr., who collaborated with his father in glaciological studies. 77°14′S 142°11′W  /  77.233°S 142.183°W  / -77.233; -142.183 . The northernmost summit of

686-538: The United States Antarctic Service Expedition to take steps to claim some of Antarctica as United States territory. Although this appears to have been done by members of this and subsequent expeditions, these do not appear to have been formalized prior to 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty System was set up. Some publications in the United States have shown this as a United States territory in

735-533: The Amundsen Sea. It entails marine, airborne, and on-ice geophysical exploration that will illuminate the character of Marie Byrd Land bedrock geology and the nature of the eastern boundary of the province. The goal is determining the stability of the glacier and prediction of global sea level rise from shrinking of the WAIS. Adjacent to the continent, Marie Byrd Land is bordered by the Amundsen Sea in

784-461: The ByrdAE (1928-30) and (1933-35) and by the USAS (1939-41) all led by R. Admiral R.E. Byrd. The glacier is named for Gerard Swope , president of General Electric , who contributed various types of electrical equipment to the ByrdAE (1933-35). 77°14′S 145°25′W  /  77.233°S 145.417°W  / -77.233; -145.417 . Heavily crevassed glacier flowing west-northwest for about 45 nautical miles (83 km; 52 mi) to

833-758: The ByrdAE, 1933-35. 77°29′S 151°25′W  /  77.483°S 151.417°W  / -77.483; -151.417 . A glacier on the north side of Edward VII Peninsula, flowing northeast along, the east side of Howard Heights into Sulzberger Ice Shelf. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by US-ACAN for Lieutenant Commander Wayne B. Stewart, United States Navy, co-pilot in LC-130F Hercules aircraft during Operation Deep Freeze 1968. 77°54′S 148°18′W  /  77.900°S 148.300°W  / -77.900; -148.300 . A peak standing 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) west of Hershey Ridge at

882-446: The Clark Mountains. Discovered on aerial flights from West Base of the USAS in 1940. Named for Clarence F. Jones, Professor of Geography at Clark University. 77°16′S 142°05′W  /  77.267°S 142.083°W  / -77.267; -142.083 . A mountain, 1,170 metres (3,840 ft) high, standing 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) north of Mount Van Valkenburg. Discovered on aerial flights from West Base of

931-419: The Clark Mountains. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by US-ACAN for John David Kelly, United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP) ionospheric physicist at Byrd Station, 1968. Boyd Glacier Sulzberger Ice Shelf ( 77°00′S 148°00′W  /  77.000°S 148.000°W  / -77.000; -148.000  ( Sulzberger Ice Shelf ) )

980-710: The Earth's magnetic and gravity field. The following summer season (1957–58) he led a second traverse out of Byrd Station that visited volcanoes of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province for the first time. The traverse reached the Sentinel Mountains beyond eastern Marie Byrd Land before returning to Byrd Station. Bentley led a third traverse out of Byrd Station to the Horlick Mountains in 1958–59. These three traverses led to

1029-467: The Ford Ranges. Discovered in 1934 by the ByrdAE, and named by Byrd for John Hays Hammond, American mining engineer and philanthropist. 77°38′S 145°55′W  /  77.633°S 145.917°W  / -77.633; -145.917 . A glacier 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) long, flowing eastward from the Haines Mountains along the south side of Keyser Nunatak to enter

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1078-708: The Fosdick Mountains. The United States Navy mounted several expeditions to Antarctica in the period 1946 to 1959. These expeditions ( Operation Highjump led by R. E. Byrd, Windmill , and Deep Freeze I–IV) included aerial photography using the Trimetrogon system of aerial photographs (TMA; vertical, left, and right oblique images over the same point) over portions of coastal Marie Byrd Land. The U.S. Navy began construction of Byrd Station at 80°S, 120°W with traverses out of Little America V in 1956–57 during Deep Freeze II. These efforts were in advance of

1127-557: The Hammond Glacier. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by US-ACAN for Donald K. Reynolds, ionospheric physicist at Byrd Station, 1967-68 season. 77°20′S 145°50′W  /  77.333°S 145.833°W  / -77.333; -145.833 . A glacier which drains westward from the Ford Ranges, between Mount Woodward and Mount West , into Sulzberger Ice Shelf. Features in these ranges were discovered and successively mapped by

1176-719: The Marie Byrd Land Dome. A digital map of Antarctica includes the geology of Marie Byrd Land. The geologic history of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica was summarized in a 2020 publication. Prominent glaciers that drain the WAIS in MBL include the Thwaites, and also the Pine Island Glacier , both of which empty into the Amundsen Sea. Of the seven ice streams that drain into the Ross Ice Shelf,

1225-640: The Ross Sea. The far western coast of Marie Byrd Land was seen from the decks of Robert Falcon Scott 's ship Discovery in 1902. He named the peninsula adjacent to the Ross Sea King Edward VII Land and the scattered outcrops that were within sight, the Alexandra Mountains . In 1911, during Roald Amundsen 's South Pole expedition, Kristian Prestrud led a sledge party that visited these isolated outcrops ( nunataks ) in

1274-1042: The School of Geography at Clark University. 77°18′S 141°47′W  /  77.300°S 141.783°W  / -77.300; -141.783 . A low mountain 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) northeast of Mount Ekblaw. Mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Lieutenant (j.g.) Charles R. Maglione, United States Navy Reserve, navigator on LC-130F Hercules aircraft during Operation Deep Freeze 1968. 77°19′S 141°48′W  /  77.317°S 141.800°W  / -77.317; -141.800 . A mountain, 1,235 metres (4,052 ft) high, standing 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) east of Mount Van Valkenburg in

1323-538: The Sulzberger Ice Shelf between Bailey Ridge and Mount Douglass in the Ford Ranges. Discovered on aerial flights of the ByrdAE in 1934, and named for Vernon D. Boyd, expedition machinist, and a member of West Base of the USAS (1939–41). 77°03′S 145°15′W  /  77.050°S 145.250°W  / -77.050; -145.250 . Valley glacier about 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) long, flowing west to Sulzberger Ice Shelf between

1372-459: The USAS in 1940 and named for Guy Burnham, Cartographer in the School of Geography of Clark University. 77°19′S 142°06′W  /  77.317°S 142.100°W  / -77.317; -142.100 . A mountain, 1,165 metres (3,822 ft) high, standing 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) south of Mount Burnham. Discovered on aerial flights from West Base of the USAS (1939–41). Named for Professor. Samuel Van Valkenburg, Director of

1421-664: The UTIG. In 2006, a major encampment, WAIS Divide (WSD) was established on the divide between the Ross Sea Embayment and the Amundsen Sea Embayment, in the easternmost portion of Marie Byrd Land, in order to drill a high resolution ice core . Drilling and coring ended in 2014. In 2018, the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration commenced with a large and ongoing physical presence onshore of

1470-506: The WAIS have been proposed to follow rift valleys , now buried by ice, which formed in the WARS. The WARS contains a volcanic province with volcanoes active from the Eocene epoch to a few thousand years ago. A mantle plume was discovered deep below Marie Byrd Land. Heat from the plume has been proposed responsible for uplift of a significant portion of West Antarctica to form

1519-580: The discovery of the Bentley Subglacial Trench or Trough, a deep bedrock chasm between MBL and the Transantarctic Mountains of East Antarctica. During 1958–1960 TMA flights and a traverse out of Byrd Station visited and mapped the Executive Committee Range. TMA were flown in western Marie Byrd Land in 1964 and 1965. Following these efforts the United States Geological Survey (USGS) mounted land surveys to establish

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1568-680: The discovery of the Rockefeller Mountains and the Edsel Ford Ranges farther to the east. Byrd named the region after his wife Marie. A geological party led by L. Gould briefly explored parts of the Rockefeller Mountains. The first deep overland exploration occurred during the second Byrd expedition (1933–1935) when a sledge party led by Paul Siple and Franklin Alton Wade reached as far east as

1617-529: The east part of the Clark Mountains. Discovered on aerial flights from the West Base of the USAS in 1940. Named for W.E. Ekblaw, professor of geography at Clark University and a member of the Crocker Land Expedition in the Arctic (1913-17). 77°17′S 141°44′W  /  77.283°S 141.733°W  / -77.283; -141.733 . The nunataks that mark the east extremity of

1666-536: The east and the Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf in the west. Mountain ranges are prominent along and near the coastline with a few exceptions. Marie Byrd Land is covered by the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The WAIS in Marie Byrd Land drains off the continent to the east into the Ross Ice Shelf via seven ice streams . Along the coast of the Southern Ocean and the Amundsen Sea, ice drains via glaciers,

1715-678: The hinterland of Bakutis Coast . Byrd Station was the only major base in the interior of West Antarctica for many years. In 1968, the first ice core to fully penetrate the Antarctic Ice Sheet was drilled here. The year-round station was abandoned in 1972, and after operating for years as a temporary summer encampment, Byrd Surface Camp, Byrd Station was reopened by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) in 2009–2010 to support operations in northern West Antarctica. On Ruppert Coast of Marie Byrd Land

1764-569: The intervening period, and the United States Department of Defense has stated that the United States has a solid basis for a claim in Antarctica resulting from its activities prior to 1959. The portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand . Five coastal areas are distinguished, which are listed from west to east: Marie Byrd Land was first explored from the west where it could be accessed from

1813-554: The major one being the Thwaites . West Antarctica and Marie Byrd Land have elevations of up to 1.5 to 2 kilometers on the surface of the WAIS. In contrast, East Antarctica has interior elevations on its ice sheet of over 4 kilometers. The West Antarctic Rift System (WARS ) that evolved over the last hundred million years, includes all or part of Marie Byrd Land. The WARS extends from the Ross Sea continental shelf east into Marie Byrd Land. The ice streams and glaciers that drain

1862-590: The mountain ranges within the northern Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land (FORCE expedition; Ford Ranges Crustal Exploration). GANOVEX VII a multinational expedition led by Germany visited Edward VII Peninsula in 1992–93. Colorado College geologists led expeditions to the Ford Ranges in 1998–2001 (Ford Ranges), 2005–2007 and 2011–2013 (Fosdick Mountains). Marie Byrd Land hosted the Operation Deep Freeze base Byrd Station (NBY; originally at 80°S, 120°W, rebuilt at 80°S, 119°W), beginning in 1957, in

1911-939: The mouth of the Crevasse Valley Glacier and northwest along the southern edge of the Guest Peninsula . The seaward side extends in a generally northeast direction from the tip of the Reeves Peninsula to the tip of the Guest Peninsula. The seaward side forms the shore of Sulzberger Bay . The islands of the Marshall Archipelago are scattered throughout the ice shelf. 77°27′S 151°40′W  /  77.450°S 151.667°W  / -77.450; -151.667 . A snow covered coastal promontory 515 metres (1,690 ft) high between Stewart Glacier and Gerry Glacier on

1960-688: The name Sulzberger to the adjacent ice shelf. Download coordinates as: The landward side of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf extends southeast from Howard Heights and the mouth of the Stewart Glacier to McKinley Peak. From there it runs northeast past the Hershey Ridge and the Court Ridge , past the mouths of the Hammond Glacier, Swope Glacier, Boyd Glacier and Arthur Glacier to the Denfeld Mountains . It then runs north past

2009-462: The north side of Edward VII Peninsula. Features in this area were explored by the ByrdAE, 1928-30 and 1933-35. These heights were mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1959-65. Named by US-ACAN (at the suggestion of Admiral Richard E. Byrd ) for Roy W. Howard of the ScrippsHoward newspapers, who made financial contributions to

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2058-586: The northern Ford Ranges are a 30-kilometer-long span of Cretaceous metamorphic rocks. Most other exposed rock in MBL is Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rock and granitoid , and Mesozoic granitoid. Away from the coasts, the WAIS buries individual mountains and ranges that are not named, the exception being major features such as the Bentley Subglacial Trench. Marie Byrd Seamount ( 70°0′S 118°0′W  /  70.000°S 118.000°W  / -70.000; -118.000 )

2107-469: The region bordering the eastern Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf. At the same time the first Japanese Antarctic Expedition led by Nobu Shirase landed a shore party on the peninsula. Dean Smith was the pilot during aerial overflights in 1929 with Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition (1928–1930). It originated from Little America near Amundsen's original base camp Framheim in the Bay of Whales, led to

2156-745: The region in the early 20th century. The territory lies in West Antarctica , east of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and south of the Pacific Ocean portion of the Antarctic or Southern Ocean , extending eastward approximately to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast . It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The inclusion of the area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast

2205-661: The south end of the Ford Ranges . Discovered on the ByrdAE flight of December 5, 1929. Named by Byrd for Grace McKinley, wife of Captain Ashley C. McKinley, aerial photographer and third in command of the expedition. 77°25′S 146°00′W  /  77.417°S 146.000°W  / -77.417; -146.000 . Glacier on the northeast side of the Haines Mountains , flowing northwest for about 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) to Sulzberger Ice Shelf in

2254-414: The volcanic province during the period 1989–1991. The SPRITE project (South Pacific Rim International Tectonic Expedition) explored regions and surroundings of the Hobbs Coast in 1990–1993. Members of both projects were from the U.S., Britain, and New Zealand. During the Austral summers of 1989–1990 and 1990–1991, a geological party from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) explored several of

2303-457: Was a complex expedition involving remote helicopter camps and airborne geophysics. Several geological expeditions explored Marie Byrd Land during the period 1978–1993. New Zealand geologists surveyed the Ford Ranges and Edward VII Peninsula in two expeditions, 1978–79 and 1987–88. Exploration of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province began in earnest by U.S. geologists in 1984–85. The WAVE project (West Antarctic Volcano Exploration ) focused on

2352-399: Was in fact an island ( Thurston Island ). In the same season a geological party led by Campbell Craddock explored the Jones Mountains in the adjacent region. The United States Byrd Coastal Survey during 1966–1969, led by F. A. Wade, conducted geologic mapping of the Alexandra and Rockefeller Mountains and the Ford Ranges and produced a series of 1:250,000 geologic maps of the region. This

2401-419: Was near the Antarctic Peninsula on Stonington Island (68° 12' S, 67° 3' W). Exploration flights out of these two bases led to the discovery of most of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province (e.g. Executive Committee Range ) and much of the coastal region including the Walgreen, Hobbs, and Ruppert Coasts. During the expedition trail parties from West Base visited the northern Ford Ranges and south slopes of

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