- Transantarctic Mountains
Geobox|Range
name=Transantarctic Mountains
image_caption=The Transantarctic Mountains in northernVictoria Land nearCape Roberts
country=Antarctica | country_type=Continent
region_type =
region=
parent=
border=
highest=Mount Kirkpatrick
highest_elevation=4528
highest_lat_d=84|highest_lat_m=20|highest_lat_s=|highest_lat_NS=S
highest_long_d=166|highest_long_m=25|highest_long_s=|highest_long_EW=E
geology= | period=Cenozoic | orogeny=
The three largest mountain ranges on the Antarctic continent are the Transantarctic Mountains, the
West Antarctica Ranges , and theEast Antarctica Ranges . The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) compose amountain range inAntarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent fromCape Adare in northernVictoria Land toCoats Land . These mountains serve as the division betweenEast Antarctica andWest Antarctica . They include a number of separately named mountain groups, which are often again subdivided into smaller ranges.Geography
The mountain range stretches between the
Ross Sea and theWeddell Sea the entire length of Antarctica, thence the name. With a total length of about 3,500 km, the Transantarctic Mountains are one of the longermountain ranges onEarth . The 100–300 km wide range forms the boundary betweenEast Antarctica andWest Antarctica . TheEast Antarctic Ice Sheet bounds the TAM along their entire length on theEastern Hemisphere side, while theWestern Hemisphere side of the range is bounded by theRoss Sea in Victoria Land from Cape Adare toMcMurdo Sound , theRoss Ice Shelf from McMurdo Sound to near the Scott Glacier, and theWest Antarctic Ice Sheet beyond.The summits and dry valleys of the TAM are some of the few places in Antarctica not covered by ice, the highest of which rise more than m to ft|4500|abbr=mos|spell=Commonwealth|precision=0 above sea level. 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. The highest mountain of the TAM is 4,528 m highMount Kirkpatrick in theQueen Alexandra Range . Isolated peaks surrounded by ice are referred to asnunatak s.Biology
Penguin s, seals, and sea birds live along the Ross Sea coastline in Victoria Land, while life in the interior of the Transantarctics is limited tolichens ,algae , andfungi .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 theRoss Ice Shelf . In 1908, while not making the pole,Ernest Shackleton 's party was the first to cross the mountains, using theBeardmore Glacier . Robert Scott returned to the Beardmore in 1911, whileRoald Amundsen crossed the range via theAxel Heiberg Glacier .Much of the range remained unexplored until the late 1940's and 1950's, when missions such as
Operation Highjump and theInternational Geophysical Year made extensive use ofaerial photography and concentrated on a thorough investigation of the entire continent. 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 othergeographic names of the seventh continent) is internationally accepted at present.The
Leverett Glacier in theQueen Maud Mountains is the planned route through the TAM for the overland supply road betweenMcMurdo Station andAmundsen-Scott South Pole Station .Geology
The Transantarctic Mountains are considerably older than other
mountain ranges of the continent that are mainly volcanic in origin. The range was uplifted during the opening of theWest Antarctic Rift to the east, beginning about 65 million years ago in the earlyCenozoic .The mountains consist of sedimentary layers lying upon a basement of
granite s andgneiss es. The sedimentary layers include theBeacon Supergroup sandstone s,siltstone s, andcoal deposited beginning in theSilurian period and continuing into theJurassic . In many places the Beacon has been intruded by dikes and sills ofJurassic -age FerrarDolerite . Many of thefossil s found in Antarctica are from locations within these sedimentary formations.Ice from the
East Antarctic ice sheet flows through the Transantarctic Mountains via a series ofoutlet glacier s into the Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, andWest Antarctic Ice Sheet . These glaciers generally flow perpendicular to the orientation of the range and define subranges and peak groups. It is thought that many of these outlet glaciers follow the traces of large-scale geologic faults.See also
In geographic order from the
Ross Sea towards theWeddell Sea :Victoria Land *
Lillie Glacier
*Concord Mountains
*Cape Adare
*Admiralty Mountains
*Cape Hallett
*Tucker Glacier
*Victory Mountains
*Mariner Glacier
*Aviator Glacier
*Terra Nova Bay
*Priestley Glacier
*Prince Albert Mountains
**David Glacier andDrygalski Ice Tongue
**Mackay Glacier
**McMurdo Dry Valleys
*Ferrar Glacier
*McMurdo Sound Central TAM
*
Mulock Glacier
*Byrd Glacier
*Nimrod Glacier
*Queen Alexandra Range
*Beardmore Glacier Queen Maud Mountains *
Shackleton Glacier
*Liv Glacier
*Amundsen Glacier
* Scott Glacier
*Bush Mountains
*Commonwealth Range
*Dominion Range
*Herbert Range
*Prince Olav Mountains
* Hughes Range
*Supporters Range "Southern" TAM
*
Reedy Glacier
*Horlick Mountains
*Thiel Mountains
*Pensacola Mountains
**Support Force Glacier
**Foundation Ice Stream
*Shackleton Range
*Theron Mountains
**Bailey Ice Stream External links
* [http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~mstuding/tam_map_large.html Map of the Transantarctic Mountains]
* [http://home.freeuk.com/gtlloyd/tam/main.htm Tectonics of the Transantarctic Mountains]
* [http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=81 Transantarctic Mountains at Peakbagger.com]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.