Gough Glacier () is an

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

glacier about long, flowing from the northern slopes of the

Prince Olav Mountains The Prince Olav Mountains is a mountain range of the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica stretching from Shackleton Glacier to Liv Glacier at the head of the Ross Ice Shelf. Discovered in 1911 by Roald Amundsen on the way to the South Pole, and ...

and the base of the

Lillie Range The Lillie Range of mountains in Antarctica extends northward from the Prince Olav Mountains (in the vicinity of Mount Fisher) to the Ross Ice Shelf. Mounts Hall, Daniel, Krebs and Mason are in the range. It was named by the Southern Party of ...

and trending northward to the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

, between the

Gabbro Hills The Gabbro Hills () are a group of rugged ridges and coastal hills which border the Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf between Barrett Glacier and Gough Glacier and extend south to Ropebrake Pass. They were so named by the Southern Party of the New Zeala ...

and the Bravo Hills. It was named by the Southern Party of the

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 1957 ...

(1963–64) for A.L. Gough, surveyor of the party.

Course

Gough Glacier is the largest of the glaciers between the

Liv Glacier Liv Glacier is a steep valley glacier, long, emerging from the Antarctic Plateau just southeast of Barnum Peak and draining north through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter Ross Ice Shelf between Mayer Crags and Duncan Mountains. It was discovere ...

and the

Shackleton Glacier Shackleton Glacier is a major Antarctica, Antarctic glacier, over long and from 8 to 16 km (5 to 10 mi) wide, descending from the polar plateau from the vicinity of Roberts Massif and flowing north through the Queen Maud Mountains to e ...

. Gough Glacier rises in the

between Mount Smithson and

Mount Hall Mount Hall () is a rock peak, high, standing southwest of Mount Daniel, surmounting the snow-covered, tabular mountain block which forms the south end of Lillie Range, in the foothills of the Prince Olav Mountains, Antarctica. It was discovere ...

. The Harwell glacier enters it from the left (west) near its head. It flows northwest to Mount Dodge. The Krout Glacier enters from the left before Mount Dodge, and the Holzrichter Glacier enters from the left beyond Mount Dodge. The Gough Glacier then turns to the north and flows to the Ross Ice Shelf between the

to the west and the Bravo Hills to the east.

Geology

The area around the glacier has late

granodiorite Granodiorite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

s and porphyritic

adamellite Quartz monzonite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclas ...

s. Pretectonic intrusives have been found on the western side of Gough Glacier, ranging from

gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is che ...

to adamellite. Glacial erratics of

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 ...

and of Beacon Group sedimentary rocks baken by dolerite sills have been found on the steep heights of the Bravo Hills, about above the level of the Ross Ice Shelf. The nearest outcrops of these rocks are at the head of the Gough Glacier, which must have carried the erratics to the Bravo Hills at a time when the level of the glacier was higher.

Tributaries

Harwell Glacier

. A steep-walled tributary glacier, long, descending the north slopes of the Prince Olav Mountains just east of Mount Smithson to enter the upper part of Gough Glacier. Named by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(US-ACAN) for Lieutenant Thomas W. Harwell, CEC, USN, who participated in Naval Support Activity during

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...

1964.

Krout Glacier

. A tributary glacier, long, draining the north slopes of the Prince Olav Mountains between Mount Sellery and Mount Smithson and entering Gough Glacier just east of Mount Dodge. Named by US-ACAN for Equipment Operator 1st Class Walter L. Krout, USN, of Operation Deep Freeze, 1964.

Holzrichter Glacier

. A broad tributary glacier which drains the northeast slopes of the Prince Olav Mountains between Mount Wade and Mount Oliver and enters the Gough Glacier just north of Mount Dodge. Named by US-ACAN for Captain Max A. Holzrichter, USN, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, 1964 and 1965.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Glaciers of the Ross Dependency Glaciers of Dufek Coast