The Allan Hills are a group of hills at the end of the

Transantarctic Mountains The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted (primarily sedimentary rock, sedimentary) rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria La ...

System, located in

Oates Land Oates Land is a region of Antarctica. It is variously defined as a portion of the East Antarctica near the coast stretching along and inland from the Oates Coast (see map) and as an officially delineated wedge-shaped segment of the Australian A ...

and

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 ...

regions of

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 contine ...

. They are mainly ice free and about long, lying just north-west of the Coombs Hills near the heads of

Mawson Glacier Mawson Glacier () is a large glacier on the east coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica, descending eastward from the Antarctic Plateau to the north of Trinity Nunatak and the Kirkwood Range, to enter the Ross Sea, where it forms the Nordenskjöld Ic ...

and

Mackay Glacier Mackay Glacier () is a large glacier in Victoria Land, descending eastward from the Antarctic polar plateau, between the Convoy Range and Clare Range, into the southern part of Granite Harbour. It was discovered by the South Magnetic Pole party o ...

. They were mapped by the New Zealand party (1957–58) of the

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South ...

and named for Professor R. S. Allan of the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Allan Hills is referred to as the ''Allan Nunatak'', and mapped north of

Carapace Nunatak Carapace Nunatak () is a prominent isolated nunatak, the most westerly near the head of Mackay Glacier in Victoria Land, standing southwest of Mount Brooke where it is visible for a considerable distance from many directions. It was so named by ...

, in the memoirs of the Scott Base Leader Adrian Hayter. Both names are in the USGS listing.

Meteorites

According to William A. Cassidy, describing the 1976–1977

ANSMET ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) is a program funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation that looks for meteorites in the Transantarctic Mountains. This geographical area serves as a collection point for mete ...

meteorite collecting season, "Looking across the Mackay Glacier at the great sky-blue patches of ice beyond

Mount Brooke Mount Brooke () is a large isolated mountain in Antarctica, high, standing northwest of Mount Gran and dominating the area near the heads of Mackay Glacier and Mawson Glacier. It was named for Lieutenant Commander F.R. Brooke, Royal Navy, le ...

, we were looking for the first time at ice that had a tremendous upstream collecting area. We were looking at Meteorite Heaven... The closest mapped feature to the ice patch north of the Mackay Glacier was a low-lying, roughly Y-shaped ridge called Allan Hills." During his second collecting season, Cassidy camped at what he called the Allan Hills Main Icefield, "a major concentration of meteorites," and made reconnaissance visits to nearby ice patches, Allan Hills Near Western, Allan Hills Middle Western and Allan Hills Far Western Icefields. They collected their first lunar meteorite, ALHA 81005, during the 1981–82 field season in the Middle Western Icefield. The Martian meteorite ALHA 77005 was collected in 1977 at Allan Hills, while

ALH 84001 Allan Hills 84001 (ALH84001) is a fragment of a Martian meteorite that was found in the Allan Hills in Antarctica on December 27, 1984, by a team of American meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. Like other members of the shergottite–nakhl ...

was collected on the Allan Hills Far Western Icefield during the 1984–85 season.

Geology

Allan Hills are in the shape of the letter "Y", with the open end pointing roughly northwards, and encompassing the Shimmering Icefield. The southern end of the Y starts at Ballance Peak and proceeds northward, encompassing the

Feistmantel Valley Feistmantel Valley () is a fossiliferous valley lying south of Shimmering Icefield and west of Mount Watters in the Allan Hills, Oates Land, Antarctica. It was reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program Allan Hills Expedition (196 ...

and

Mount Watters Mount Watters () is a massive peak westward of Scythian Nunatak in the Allan Hills, 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 a ...

, before it splits into the northwest

Tilman Ridge Tilman Ridge () is a ridge forming the northwestern arm of the Allan Hills, in Oates Land. Its northernmost point is called Stopes Point. The ridge and its constituent features were first reconnoitered and named by the New Zealand Antarctic Resear ...

and the northeast

Shipton Ridge Shipton Ridge () is the main ridge forming the northeastern arm of the Allan Hills in Victoria Land. Reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program (NZARP) Allan Hills Expedition, 1964. They named it after Eric Shipton Eric Earle Sh ...

. The

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

Mawson Formation The Mawson Formation is a geological formation in Antarctica, dating to roughly between 182 and 177 million years ago and covering the Toarcian stages of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. Vertebrate remains are known from the formation. The ...

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...

s from Ballance Point until where these two ridges come together, and the Permian Weller Formation outcrops. Along the Shipton Ridge, the Triassic Feather Formation lies next to the Weller, followed by the Triassic Lashley Formation, which continues from

Halle Flat Halle Flat () is a relatively flat area just southward of Coxcomb Peak in the Allan Hills of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program Allan Hills Expedition, 1964. They gave the name after Thore ...

and

Roscolyn Tor Roscolyn Tor () is a high sandstone feature about 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) southwest of Warren Peak in the Allan Hills of Victoria Land. Reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program (NZARP) Allan Hills Expedition (1964) who gav ...

, through

Toltec Butte Toltec Butte () is a truncated peak east of Harris Valley in the Shipton Ridge of the Allan Hills The Allan Hills are a group of hills at the end of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in Oates Land and Victoria Land regions of Antarct ...

, until the northerly end of the ridge at Lavallee Point. Ferrar Dolerite is exposed at

Coxcomb Peak Coxcomb Peak () is a dolerite elevation which overlooks the south end of Plumstead Valley in the Allan Hills, Victoria Land. It was reconnoitered by the New Zealand Antarctic Research Program The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) ...

. Along the Tilman Ridge, the Feather and Lashley formations outcrop along the ridge at

Ship Cone The Allan Hills are a group of hills at the end of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in Oates Land and Victoria Land regions of Antarctica. They are mainly ice free and about long, lying just north-west of the Coombs Hills near the ...

and Townrow Peak respectively, but the Jurassic Ferrar

Dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

outcrops at Stopes Point, the end of the ridge.

References

External links

USGS topographic map of Allan Hills
Hills of Victoria Land Hills of Oates Land Transantarctic Mountains Scott Coast {{-

Meteorites

Geology

See also

References

External links