Gordon Glacier () is an
Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
of at least in length flowing in a northerly direction beginning in the
Crossover Pass, flowing through the
Shackleton Range
The Shackleton Range () is a mountain range in Antarctica that rises to and extends in an east–west direction for about between the Slessor and Recovery Glaciers.
Surveys
The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE), which in 1956 s ...
to finally meet the
Slessor Glacier.
Exploration
The glacier was first mapped in 1957 by the
CTAE, and named after George Patrick Pirie-Gordon, 15th Laird of Buthlaw (died 4 April 2011), who was a member of the Committee of Management and treasurer of the CTAE between 1955 and 1958.
Location
The Gordon Glacier is one of the larger of the glaciers in the Shackleton Range.
It is essentially a long and wide snowfield.
It does not show positive evidence of movement such as crevassing, but its upper reach has a group of ice falls and the middle section has wide and deep undulations.
Its upper section is fed from
Fuchs Dome
Fuchs Dome () is a large ice-covered dome rising over , between Stratton Glacier and Gordon Glacier in the central part of the Shackleton Range, Antarctica.
Exploration
It was first mapped in 1957 by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expeditio ...
to its west and
Shotton Snowfield to its east. It flows between the
La Grange Nunataks to the west and the
Herbert Mountains
The Herbert Mountains () are a conspicuous group of rock summits on the east side of Gordon Glacier in the Shackleton Range of Antarctica. They were first mapped in 1957 by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and named for Sir Edwin S. ...
to the east, entering Slessor Glacier between
Wiggans Hills and
Mount Sheffield.
The glacier originates near Crossover Pass and
Spath Crest, which lie on the ice divide in the Shackleton Mountains, with
Cornwall Glacier flowing south from this area while Gordon Glacier flows north.
The valleys of the Gordon and Cornwall glaciers may reflect an underlying fault zone, and have been treated as a divide between the western and eastern portions of the Shackleton Range.
See also
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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 ...
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Glaciology
Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.
Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...
References
Sources
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{{Glaciers of Coats Land
Glaciers of Coats Land