Runcorn Glacier

Runcorn Glacier () is a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

to the west of

Hess Mountains The Hess Mountains () are a group of mountains rising to about at the head of Hilton Inlet on the Black Coast of Antarctica, to the west of Dietz Bluff and bounded to the north by Gruening Glacier, to the west by Runcorn Glacier and to the sout ...

in Antarctica. It flows southeast to join

Beaumont Glacier Beaumont Glacier () is a broad glacier flowing in a northeast direction to the southwest part of Hilton Inlet, on the east coast of Palmer Land. The United States Antarctic Service discovered and photographed it from the air in 1940. It was resight ...

near the head of

Hilton Inlet Hilton Inlet () is an ice-filled inlet, wide, which recedes about west from its entrance between Cape Darlington and Cape Knowles, along the east coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica. It was discovered by the United States Antarctic Service in 1940, ...

Black Coast Black Coast is the portion of the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Boggs and Cape Mackintosh. This coast was discovered and photographed from the air by members of the East Base of the U.S. Antarctic Service, 1939–41, on a fl ...

Palmer Land Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic N ...

. The glacier was mapped by

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(USGS) from aerial photographs taken by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during 1966–69, and surveyed by

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

during 1972–73. In association with the names of

continental drift Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed into the science of pla ...

scientists grouped in this area, 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 ...

named the glacier after

Keith Runcorn (Stanley) Keith Runcorn (19 November 1922 – 5 December 1995) was a British physicist whose paleomagnetic reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to plat ...

in 1998. Runcorn was an English geophysicist whose

paleomagnetic Paleomagnetism (or palaeomagnetismsee ), is the study of magnetic fields recorded in rocks, sediment, or archeological materials. Geophysicists who specialize in paleomagnetism are called ''paleomagnetists.'' Certain magnetic minerals in rock ...

reconstruction of the relative motions of Europe and America revived the theory of continental drift and was a major contribution to

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

. Glaciers of Palmer Land {{PalmerLand-glacier-stub