Mount Murphy is a massive, snow-covered and highly eroded

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...

West Antarctica West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transant ...

with steep, rocky slopes. It is directly south of

Bear Peninsula Bear Peninsula () is a peninsula about 80 km (50 mi) long and 40 km (25 mi) wide which is ice covered except for several isolated rock bluffs and outcrops along its margins, lying 48 km 30 mi) east of Martin Peninsula ...

and is bounded by the

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and

Haynes Glacier Haynes Glacier () is a broad glacier flowing to the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, to the east of Mount Murphy. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–66, and was named by ...

s. Volcanic activity began in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

with the eruption of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic and

trachytic Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and alk ...

lava. Volcanism on the slopes of the volcano resumed much later during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

, with a

parasitic cone A parasitic cone (also adventive cone or satellite cone) is the cone-shaped accumulation of volcanic material not part of the central vent of a volcano. It forms from eruptions from fractures on the flank of the volcano. These fractures occur ...

having been K–Ar dated to 0.9 million years old. Delineated from aerial photographs taken by US Navy

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV. The opera ...

in January 1947. Named by US-ACAN for

Robert Cushman Murphy The whaling ship, ''Daisy'', which Murphy traveled on to the Antarctic Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887 – March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on numer ...

of the American Museum of Natural History, noted authority on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic bird life. While serving on the whaler, he charted the Bay of Isles region of South Georgia.

Features

Bucher Peak Bucher Peak () is, at , one of the highest peaks in the west-central summit area of the Mount Murphy massif, in Marie Byrd Land. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and from U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–66, and named b ...

() at , is one of the highest peaks in the west-central summit area of the Mount Murphy massif.

Buettner Peak Buettner Peak () is a sharp peak rising midway along the north wall of Roos Glacier in the northwest part of the Mount Murphy massif, in Marie Byrd Land. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and from U.S. Navy aerial ph ...

is a sharp peak rising midway along the north wall of

Roos Glacier Roos Glacier () is a steep glacier that drains the northwest slopes of Mount Murphy on Walgreen Coast, Marie Byrd Land. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after S. Edward Roos, oceanographer with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition ...

in the northwest part of the Mount Murphy massif.

References

Sources

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External links

"Mount Murphy, Antarctica" on Peakbagger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Mount Polygenetic shield volcanoes Volcanoes of Marie Byrd Land

Mount Murphy Mount Murphy is a massive, snow-covered and highly eroded shield volcano in Marie Byrd Land of West Antarctica with steep, rocky slopes. It is directly south of Bear Peninsula and is bounded by the Smith, Pope and Haynes Glaciers. Volcanic ac ...

Pleistocene shield volcanoes

Features

See also

References

Sources

External links