The Keyhole (Antarctica)
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The Keyhole (Antarctica)
Hidden Valley () is the ice-free valley next south of Miers Valley through which an alpine glacier formerly moved to coalesce with Koettlitz Glacier. The mouth of the valley is completely blocked by the Koettlitz moraine, the only one of the numerous valleys tributary to the Koettlitz isolated in this fashion. The main valley is hidden not only from the coast but from most of the surrounding ridges. The valley was traversed during December and January by the New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) 1960-61 who applied the name. Location Hidden Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It lies to the southwest of Miers Valley, southeast of Adams Glacier and northwest of Ward Glacier Ward Glacier () is a small glacier between Terminus Mountain and Howchin Glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range in Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the ...
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Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of . Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of . Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost . Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, . The coastal regions can reach temperatures over in summer. Native species of animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. Where vegetation o ...
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Miers Valley
Miers Valley () is a valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys located just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free in the Austral summer except for Miers Glacier and Adams Glacier in its upper (western) part, and Lake Miers near its center. Penance Pass connects it to the valley of Shangri-la. It was mapped and named by Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13, possibly after Edward J. Miers, a marine biologist from the British Museum (Natural History) The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ... who examined crustacea from the ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' expeditions. A hut stood in the valley from 1984–94. Miers Stream () is named in association with Miers Valley. A small ele ...
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Koettlitz Glacier
Koettlitz Glacier is a large Antarctic glacier lying west of Mount Morning and Mount Discovery in the Royal Society Range, flowing from the vicinity of Mount Cocks northeastward between Brown Peninsula and the mainland into the ice shelf of McMurdo Sound. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04) which named it for Dr. Reginald Koettlitz, physician and botanist of the expedition. See also * Bulwark Stream * List of glaciers in the Antarctic There are many glaciers in the Antarctic. This set of lists does not include ice sheets, ice caps or ice fields, such as the Antarctic ice sheet, but includes glacial features that are defined by their flow, rather than general bodies of ice. Th ... References Glaciers of Victoria Land Scott Coast {{ScottCoast-geo-stub ...
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Victoria University Of Wellington Antarctic Expedition
The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) is part of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. Its mission is to research "Antarctic climate history and processes, and their influence on the global climate system. The current director of the Antarctic Research Centre is Associate Professor Robert McKay. Directors * 1972 - 2007: Professor Peter Barrett * 2008 - 2016: Professor Tim Naish * 2017 - 2019: Professor Andrew Mackintosh * 2020 - Present: Professor Robert McKay History In December 1957, geology students Barrie McKelvey and Peter Webb along with biologist Ron Balham conducted an expedition to the then unexplored McMurdo Dry Valleys via the Royal New Zealand Navy Antarctic support ship HMNZS ''Endeavour''. This expedition formed the basic for the annual Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expeditions, which continue to the present day. Since this first expedition, over 400 staff and students have travelled to the ...
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Denton Hills
The Denton Hills () are a group of rugged foothills, 24 nautical miles (44 km) long southwest–northeast and 9 nautical miles (17 km) wide, to the east of the Royal Society Range on the Scott Coast, Victoria Land. The feature comprises a series of eastward-trending ridges and valleys circumscribed by Howchin Glacier, Armitage Saddle, Blue Glacier (Antarctica), Blue Glacier, the coast, and Walcott Bay. The highest summits, Mount Kowalczyk at , and Goat Mountain (Antarctica), Goat Mountain at , rise from Hobbs Ridge in the northern part of the foothills. Elevations decrease southward as in Kahiwi Maihao Ridge, high near the center of the group and the Xanadu Hills, high at the southern end. The principal glaciers (Hobbs Glacier (Victoria Land), Hobbs, Blackwelder Glacier, Blackwelder, Salmon Glacier (Antarctica), Salmon, Garwood Glacier, Garwood, Joyce Glacier, Joyce, Rivard Glacier, Rivard, Miers Glacier, Miers, Adams Glacier (Victoria Land), Adams, Ward Glacier, Ward) fl ...
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McMurdo Dry Valleys
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby glaciers. The rocks here are granites and gneisses, and glacial tills dot this bedrock landscape, with loose gravel covering the ground. It is one of the driest places on Earth and has not seen rain for nearly two million years. The region is one of the world's most extreme deserts, and includes many features including Lake Vida, a saline lake, and the Onyx River, a meltwater stream and Antarctica's longest river. Although no living organisms have been found in the permafrost here, endolithic photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in the relatively moist interior of rocks, and anaerobic bacteria, with a metabolism based on iron and sulfur, live under the Taylor Glacier. The valleys are located within the McMurdo Valleys Antarc ...
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Adams Glacier (Victoria Land)
Adams Glacier () is a small glacier immediately south of Miers Glacier in Victoria Land. The heads of Adams and Miers glaciers, both located in the Miers Valley, are separated by a low ridge, and the east end of this ridge is almost completely surrounded by the snouts of the two glaciers, which nearly meet in the bottom of the valley, about above Lake Miers, into which they drain. It was named by the New Zealand Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1956–58) after Lieutenant (later Sir) Jameson Adams, second in command of the shore party of the British Antarctic Expedition (1907–09), who was one of the men to accompany Ernest Shackleton to within of the South Pole. The Keyhole, a narrow ice-carved defile, separates the Adams Glacier from Hidden Valley. It provides the only low-level entrance to Hidden Valley, and is the key to easy passage between Lake Miers and Ward Glacier. Named by the New Zealand Victoria University's Antarctic Expedit ...
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Ward Glacier
Ward Glacier () is a small glacier between Terminus Mountain and Howchin Glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range in Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It .... Named by Taylor of the British Antarctic Expedition (1910–13) for L. Ward, a Tasmanian geologist. Glaciers of Scott Coast {{ScottCoast-glacier-stub ...
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Lake Miers
Lake Miers () is a small lake in Miers Valley, Antarctica, lying east of the snouts of Miers Glacier Miers Valley () is a valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys located just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free in the Austral summer except for Miers Glacier and Adam ... and Adams Glacier, and filled by meltwater from these glaciers. A stream from the lake flows down the valley in the warmest weather to reach the coast of Victoria Land. The lake was named after Miers Glacier in 1957 by the New Zealand Blue Glacier Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1956–58. References Lakes of Victoria Land McMurdo Dry Valleys {{McMurdoDryValleys-geo-stub ...
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Mirabilite
Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral that forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate-bearing brines. It is found around saline springs and along saline playa lakes. Associated minerals include gypsum, halite, thenardite, trona, glauberite, and epsomite. Mirabilite is unstable and quickly dehydrates in dry air, the prismatic crystals turning into a white powder, thenardite (Na2SO4). In turn, thenardite can also absorb water and converts to mirabilite. Mirabilite is used as a purgative and anti-inflammatory remedy in the Traditional Chinese medicine; in Mandarin, it is called máng xiāo. The name 'mirabilite' is based on the phrase ''"Sal mirabilis"'' (Latin for "wonderful salt") used by Johann Rudolph Glauber when he inadvertently synthesized mirabilite. Mirabilite is found in several areas within the Mammoth Cave system, where it appears to ...
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