Radok Lake is a

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

about long and marked by a slender

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 ...

tongue feeding into it from the west, lying south-west of Beaver Lake and south-east of the

Aramis Range On the continent of Antarctica, the Aramis Range is the third Mountain range, range south in the Prince Charles Mountains, situated 11 miles southeast of the Porthos Range and extending for about 30 miles in a southwest–northeast direction. It ...

Prince Charles Mountains The Prince Charles Mountains are a major group of mountains in Mac. Robertson Land in Antarctica, including the Athos Range, the Porthos Range, and the Aramis Range. The highest peak is Mount Menzies, with a height of . Other prominent peaks a ...

. It was plotted by Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (

ANARE The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australia: Antarctic Program#Australian Antarctic program, Australian Antarctic Program (AAp) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic D ...

) from air photos taken by the RAAF Antarctic Flight in 1956. The lake was named for Uwe Radok, Reader (head) of Meteorology Dept at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, who greatly assisted Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE)'s glaciological program. With a depth of , Radok Lake is the deepest known lake on the Antarctic continent and the only known

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

lake to host a floating ice tongue glacier (the Battye Glacier). It is drained by

Pagodroma Gorge Radok Lake is a meltwater lake about long and marked by a slender glacier tongue feeding into it from the west, lying south-west of Beaver Lake and south-east of the Aramis Range, Prince Charles Mountains. It was plotted by Australian Nationa ...

in to Beaver Lake. Radok Lake is an isothermal and non-stratified Lake, i.e. homogeneous water body. Bainmedart Cove () is a

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

about long in eastern Radok Lake. The cove leads to the narrow Pagodroma Gorge. The name is a composite one made from the names of C. Bain, A. Medvecky, and J. Dart who spent a month at the cove studying the geology of the lakes area during the ANARE Prince Charles Mountains survey in January–February, 1969. Pagodroma Gorge is a steep-sided

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

3 mi long which joins Radok and Beaver Lakes. Photographed from ANARE aircraft in 1956. The gorge was traveled by A. Medvecky, ANARE

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

in January–February, 1969. Named by ANCA after the snow petrels (''Pagodroma nivea'') which nest in the weathered

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

walls of the gorge. Glossopteris Gully () is a steep-sided, narrow gully on the east side of

Bainmedart Cove Radok Lake is a meltwater lake about long and marked by a slender glacier tongue feeding into it from the west, lying south-west of Beaver Lake and south-east of the Aramis Range, Prince Charles Mountains. It was plotted by Australian Nationa ...

. It was named by ANCA after the ''

Glossopteris ''Glossopteris'' tymology: from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, " tongue ") + πτερίς (pterís, " fern ")is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales (also known as Arberia ...

'' fossil plant found in the upper part of the gully. Fossil Wood Point () is a point of land between Bainmedart Cove and Radok Lake. It was so named because deposits of fossil wood were found on the point.

External links

Radok Lake
on

USGS 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, a ...

website
Radok Lake
on AADC website
Radok Lake
on

SCAR A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...

website
Aerial photos of Radok Lake, Pagodroma Gorge and Beaver Lake

Satellite image

References

{{USGS Lakes of Antarctica Bodies of water of Mac. Robertson Land

Further reading

External links

References