Mount Terror (Antarctica)

For mountains named Mount Terror, see Mount Terror.

Mount Terror
Mount Terror (right) and Mount Erebus (left) seen from the Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island
Elevation	3,230 m (10,597 ft) [1]
Prominence	1,696 m (5,564 ft)
Listing	Ultra
Location
Location	Ross Island, Antarctica
Coordinates	77°31′S 168°32′E / 77.517°S 168.533°E / -77.517; 168.533Coordinates: 77°31′S 168°32′E / 77.517°S 168.533°E / -77.517; 168.533[1]
Geology
Type	Shield volcano (extinct)
Age of rock	820,000-1.75 million years
Climbing
First ascent	1959
Easiest route	snow/ice climb

Mount Terror is a large shield volcano that forms the eastern part of Ross Island, Antarctica. It has numerous cinder cones and domes on the flanks of the shield and is mostly under snow and ice. It is the second largest of the four volcanoes which make up Ross Island and is somewhat overshadowed by its neighbor, Mount Erebus, 30 km (19 mi) to the west. Mt. Terror was named in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross for his second ship, the HMS Terror.^[1] The captain of the Terror was Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier who was a close friend of Ross.

Topographic map of Ross Island (1:250,000 scale)

The rocks at the summit have not been studied, but lower areas have been studied and rocks from those areas range from 0.82 to 1.75 million years old. Mount Terror shows no signs of volcanic activity more recent than that.

The first ascent of Mt. Terror was made by a New Zealand party in 1959.

Terror Point (77°41′S 168°13′E), located just below Mt. Terror, is the eastern limit of Fog Bay, 6 km (3.7 mi) WNW of Cape MacKay on Ross Island. The name was first used by members of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, and was apparently applied in association with Mt. Terror which overlooks this point from the northeast.^[2]

Terror Saddle (77°31′S 168°5′E / 77.517°S 168.083°E / -77.517; 168.083) is one of three prominent snow saddles on Ross Island, located c.1600 m between Mount Terra Nova and Mount Terror. Named in association with Mount Terror, which rises to 3262 m to the east of this saddle.

Terror Glacier (77°37′S 168°3′E / 77.617°S 168.05°E / -77.617; 168.05) is a large glacier between Mount Terra Nova and Mount Terror on Ross Island, flowing south into Windless Bight. So named by A.J. Heine of the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE), 1962–63, because of its association with Mount Terror.

See also

• List of volcanoes in Antarctica

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Mount Terror". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:15152. Retrieved 2004-05-09. 
2. ^ "Terror Point". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:15154. Retrieved 2004-05-09. 

References in literature

• Mount Terror is the stronghold of Russian monarchist revolutionaries in the 1894 science fiction novel Olga Romanoff by George Griffith.
• Mount Terror and Mount Erebus are mentioned in the 1936 novella "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P.Lovecraft.
• Mount Terror is used as a location in the 2004 novel State of Fear by Michael Crichton.

Bibliography

• LeMasurier, W. E.; Thomson, J. W. (eds.) (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union. pp. 512 pp. ISBN 0-87590-172-7.