Wilkes Land in Australian Antarctic Territory

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica, formally claimed by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, though the validity of this claim has been placed for the period of the operation of the Antarctic Treaty, to which Australia is a signatory.

Geography

Wilkes Land fronts on the southern Indian Ocean between

Queen Mary Coast Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and Adelie Land, extending from

Cape Hordern Cape Hordern is an ice-free cape, overlain by morainic drift, at the northwest end of the Bunger Hills in Antarctica. It was probably sighted from Watson Bluff () by A.L. Kennedy and other members of the Western Base Party of the Australasian Antarc ...

in 100°31' E to

Pourquoi Pas Point Pourquoi Pas () is an ice-covered point which forms the west side of the entrance to Victor Bay. It was charted by the French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First exped ...

, in 136°11' E. The region extends as a sector about 2600 km towards the South Pole, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km², mostly glaciated.

Subdivisions

It is further subdivided in the following coastal areas which can also be thought of as sectors extending to the South Pole: #

Knox Land Knox Coast, part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Cape Hordern, at 100°31′E, and the Hatch Islands, at 109°16′E. History The coast was discovered in February 1840 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (18 ...

: 100°31' E to 109°16' E #

Budd Land Budd Coast (), part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between the Hatch Islands, at 109°16'E, and Cape Waldron, at 115°33'E. It was discovered in February 1840 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42) under th ...

: 109°16' E to 115°33' E # Sabrina Land: 115°33' E to 122°05' E # Banzare Land: 122°05' E to 130°10' E #

Clarie Land Clarie Coast, called Wilkes Coast by Australia, () is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land lying between Cape Morse, at 130°10′E, and Pourquoi Pas Point, at 136°11′E. It was discovered in January 1840 by Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville, w ...

: (Wilkes Coast) 130°10' E to 136°11' E In a wider sense, Wilkes Land extends further East to

Point Alden Point Alden is an ice-covered point in Antarctica with rock exposures along the seaward side. The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Adélie Land, Adélie Coast and George V Coast in Antarctic ...

in 142°02' E, thereby including

Adélie Land Adélie Land (french: Terre Adélie, ) is a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. France has administered it as one of five districts ...

, which is claimed by France.

Name

Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (later a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the continental margin over a distance of 2,400 km (1,500

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

s) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that Antarctica is a continent. This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E,

George V Land George V Land is a segment of Antarctica part of the land claimed as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, inland from the George V Coast. As with other segments of Antarctica, it is defined by two lines of longitude, 142°02' E and 153°4 ...

, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.

Geology

Dibble Ice Shelf, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

In 2006 a team of researchers led by

Ralph von Frese Ralph R. B. von Frese is an American geophysicist at the Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land mass concentration in Antarctica in collaboration with Laramie Potts. In 1969, Frese graduated B.A. ''cum laude'' from Park College in ...

and

Laramie Potts Laramie Potts is an American scientist who identified the Wilkes Land mass concentration in Antarctica in collaboration with Ralph von Fresebr>He is from South Africa. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Applied Engineering and Technolo ...

used gravity measurements by NASA's GRACE satellites to discover the 300-mile-wide Wilkes Land crater, which probably formed about 250 million years ago.

In popular culture

Wilkes Land is featured prominently in the 1998 film '' The X-Files''. Fox Mulder journeys to Antarctica to save his partner Dana Scully, who is being held there against her will. In the process, they discover a huge secret lab under the surface run by the

Cigarette-Smoking Man The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated CSM or C-Man; sometimes referred to as Cancer Man or the Smoking Man) is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the American science fiction drama television series ''The X-Files''. He s ...

References