David Glacier is the most imposing

outlet glacier Glacier morphology, or the form a glacier takes, is influenced by temperature, precipitation, topography, and other factors. The goal of glacial morphology is to gain a better understanding of glaciated landscapes and the way they are shaped. Ty ...

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. I ...

, Antarctica. It is named after the geologist

Edgeworth David Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter ...

and is fed by two main flows which drain an area larger than 200,000 square kilometres of the

East Antarctic plateau The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This ...

, with an estimated ice discharge rate of 7.8 +/- 0.7 km³/year.Frezzotti,M., A.Capra and L.Vittuari, Ann.Glaciol, v27, 54-60 (1998) The northern flow drains from Talos Dome to the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

, but the main branch of the stream is fed by a network of tributaries which drain a common area of the inner plateau around

Dome C Dome C, also known as Dome Circe, Dome Charlie or Dome Concordia, located at Antarctica at an elevation of above sea level, is one of several summits or "domes" of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Dome C is located on the Antarctic Plateau, inland fro ...

and converge in a spectacular

icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of ...

normally known as the David Cauldron.Danesi et al., Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v253, p151-158 (2007) The north wall of David Glacier, near its terminus at

Cape Philippi Cape Philippi () is a rock cape rising abruptly to 490 m along the coast of Victoria Land, marking the north side of the terminus of David Glacier David Glacier is the most imposing outlet glacier in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is named afte ...

, is named

D'Urville Wall D'Urville Wall () is a great glacier-cut wall of granite which rises to and forms the north wall of David Glacier near its terminus, in the Prince Albert Mountains of Victoria Land. It was discovered by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09, ...

after Admiral

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

. As the David Glacier flows into the

, it forms a floating mass known as the

Drygalski Ice Tongue The Drygalski Ice Tongue, Drygalski Barrier, or Drygalski Glacier Tongue is a glacier in Antarctica, on the Scott Coast, in the northern McMurdo Sound of Ross Dependency, north of Ross Island. The Drygalski Ice Tongue is stable by the standar ...

Hughes Bluff Hughes Bluff is a conspicuous rock and ice bluff, high, along the south side of David Glacier, west of Cape Reynolds, in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U.S. Navy tricamera aerial ...

lies nearby.

References

Glaciers of Victoria Land Ice streams of Antarctica {{VictoriaLand-glacier-stub

See also

References