Mt Lister, Royal Society Range, Antarctica

Royal Society Range, South Side, Victoria Land, Antarctica

The Royal Society Range () is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. I ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. With its

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

at , the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of

McMurdo Sound McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo of ...

between the Koettlitz, Skelton and

Ferrar Ferrar is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ada Ferrar (1867–1951), British actress * Beatrice Ferrar (1876–1958), British actress * Bill Ferrar (1893–1990), English mathematician * Catherine Ferrar (born 1940), American ...

glaciers. Other notable local terrain features include Allison Glacier, which descends from the west slopes of the Royal Society Range into Skelton Glacier.

Discovery and naming

The range was probably first seen by Captain

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle Sir John Ross, John Ross, and four led b ...

in 1841. The range was explored by the

British National Antarctic Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–18 ...

(BrNAE) under

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

, who named the range after the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

and applied names of its members to many of its peaks. For example, Mount Lister was named for Lord Joseph Lister, President of the Royal Society, 1895–1900. The Royal Society provided financial support to the expedition and its members had assisted on the committee which organized the expedition.

Geology

The Royal Society Range consists of a

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

igneous and meta-igneous

basement complex In geology, basement and crystalline basement are crystalline rocks lying above the mantle and beneath all other rocks and sediments. They are sometimes exposed at the surface, but often they are buried under miles of rock and sediment. The baseme ...

overlain by

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

- to

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

-age

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 ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

s and conglomerates of the Beacon Supergroup which dip shallowly westward away from the Ross Sea coast.Sugden, D.E., Summerfield, M.A., Denton, G.H., Wilch, T.I., McIntosh, W.C., Marchant, D.R., and Rutford, R.H., 1999
Landscape development in the Royal Society Range, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: stability since the mid-MioceneGeomorphology
v. 28, p. 181-200. The entire region is cut by north–south trending longitudinal faults, east–west trending transverse faults, and structurally related dike swarms. Tectonic and

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluv ...

activity have featured very heavily in the recent geologic history of the Royal Society Range. Following the extension of the Ross Sea Basin (c. 55 million years ago), an episode of uplift drove the creation of the Royal Society Range rift flank. At this time a tectonic (though ''not'' accretionary) wedge, up to 6 km thick on the coast, was present, though it quickly began to erode due primarily to fluvial processes, and the Royal Society Range was cut down near to its present appearance by the mid-Miocene. Relatively limited glacial action since that time has preserved much of the fluvial architecture of the Range, and though uplift did not cease, its magnitude is such that it has not drastically affected the landscape, having progressed only 67 meters in the last 8 million years.

Koettlitz Glacier Alkaline Province

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is ...

tectonic extension along the edge of the East Antarctic Craton between the Skelton and Koettlitz Glaciers resulted in the emplacement of coarse grained alkaline igneous

intrusive rock Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: Marc ...

s (ranging from gabbro to A-type granite). This area of alkaline intrusives is referred to as the Koettlitz Glacier Alkaline Province Ross Orogeny Cambrian tectonic convergence, continental collision and plate subduction led to the emplacement of calc-alkaline and adakitic granitoids. This period of mountain building is referred to as the Ross Orogeny.

Volcanic history

The Royal Society Range contains over 50 basaltic vents, ranging in size from tiny mounds to

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill A conical hill (also cone or conical mountain) is a landform with a distinctly conical shape. It is usually isolated or rises above other surrounding foothills, and is often of volcanic ...

s up to 300 meters (985 feet) high. Dating of surface material indicates they were active earlier than 15 million years ago (e.g. Heald Island) and as recently as 80,000 years ago, with glacier-bound

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...

layers suggesting even more recent

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

activity. The vast majority of vents are located in the foothills of the Royal Society mountains just north of Koettlitz Glacier, and most are Quaternary in age. Most emanating flows are 3–10 meters thick and less than 4 kilometers long. The composition, with very few exceptions, is porphyritic basanite with primarily

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers qui ...

and clinopyroxene phenocrysts, though some phenocrystic

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

is also present.Wright, A.C., and Kyle, P.R., 1990, Royal Society Range Summary, ''in'' LeMasurier, W.E., and Thomson, J.W., eds., Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans: Washington, DC
American Geophysical Union
Antarctic Research Series, v. 48, p. 81-88.

Features

Abbott Spur The Royal Society Range () is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. With its summit at , the massive Mount Lister forms the highest point in this range. Mount Lister is located along the western shore of McMurdo Sound between the K ...

* Allison Glacier * Amphitheatre Glacier *

Anne Hill Anne Hill () is the most prominent hill on Radian Ridge in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land. It rises to at the east side of Lava Tongue Pass. It was named after Anne C. Wright (later Anne Wright-Grassham), a geologist with, firstly, the ...

* Auster Pass * Ball Glacier * Baronick Glacier * Battleship * Berry Spur *

Bindschadler Glacier __NOTOC__ Ferrar Glacier is a glacier in Antarctica. It is about long, flowing from the plateau of Victoria Land west of the Royal Society Range to New Harbour in McMurdo Sound. The glacier makes a right (east) turn northeast of Knobhead, w ...

* Bishop Peak * Boom Basin *

Borg Bastion Borg Bastion () is a prominent summit, high, on Johns Hopkins Ridge, standing northwest of Mount Rucker in the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1994 after Scott G. Borg, a geologis ...

Brandau Crater Brandau Crater () is an ice-free volcanic crater lying to the south of the snout of Howchin Glacier on Chancellor Ridge, Royal Society Range. It was named by the New Zealand Geographic Board (1994) after Lieutenant Commander James F. Brandau ...

* Bubble Spur * Carleton Glacier *

Cathedral Rocks The Cathedral Rocks () are a series of four abrupt cliffs interspersed by short glaciers and surmounted by sharp peaks. The cliffs extend for along the south side of Ferrar Glacier and form part of the north shoulder of the Royal Society Rang ...

Chancellor Ridge Mount Lister is a massive mountain, high, forming the highest point in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–1904) which named it for Lord Joseph Lister, ...

* Chaplains Tableland * Columnar Valley * Comberiate Glacier * Copland Pass *

Covert Glacier Covert Glacier () is a glacier flowing from the northeast part of the Royal Society Range between Pearsall Ridge and Stoner Peak, joining the Blue Glacier drainage in the vicinity of Granite Knolls, Victoria Land. It was named in 1992 by the Advi ...

Craw Ridge Craw Ridge () is a prominent ridge that trends northeast from Mount Lister along the south side of Lister Glacier, in the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land. It was named by the New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee after D. Craw, a member of ...

* Dale Glacier * Dot Cliff * Dromedary Glacier * Emmanuel Glacier * Engebretson Peak * Ferrar Glacier *

Fisher Bastion Fisher Bastion () is a high rectangular massif, high, between the upper reaches of Potter Glacier and Foster Glacier, southeast of Mount Huggins in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory Committee ...

* Fogle Peak * Foster Glacier * Frio Peak *

Frostbite Spine Frostbite Spine () is a prominent ridge, long, between Hooker Glacier and Salient Glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee from a proposal b ...

* Harvey Summit * Heke Peak * Henderson Pyramid *

Highway Ridge Mount Schwerdtfeger () is a peak, high on the ridge at the head of Renegar Glacier, south of Mount Kempe in the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Name Mount Schwerdtfeger was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antar ...

Hofmann Spur Harvey Summit () is a peak high at the head of McDermott Glacier in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after John W. Harvey of the National Sol ...

* Hooker Glacier * Hooper Crags * Horseshoe Crater * Howchin Glacier * Ibarra Peak * Inan Peak * Jezek Glacier * Jigsaw Rock Gut *

Johns Hopkins Ridge Johns Hopkins Ridge () is a prominent ridge of the Royal Society Range, Antarctica, running northward from Mount Rucker for . It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from ground surveys and Navy air photos, and was named by the Advis ...

* Joseph Lister * Kamb Glacier *

Kenney Nunatak Kenney Nunatak () is a conspicuous nunatak rising in Waddington Glacier, south-southwest of Ugolini Peak, in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1994 after Frank J. ...

* Koettlitz Glacier *

Lava Tongue Pass Lava Tongue Pass () is a prominent north–south gully at bisecting Radian Ridge in the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, ...

* Lettau Peak * Lister Glacier * Lower Jaw Glacier *

Maine Ridge Rampart Ridge () is a prominent broken ridge on the west side of the Royal Society Range, standing north of Rutgers Glacier and extending from The Spire to Bishop Peak. Surveyed and given this descriptive name in February 1957 by the New Zeala ...

* Margaret Hill *

Matataua Glacier Matataua Glacier, formerly Marchant Glacier () is a glacier, about long, which drains the slopes of Rampart Ridge between Mount Bishop and Mount Potter and flows northwest to the vicinity of Mount Bockheim, in the Royal Society Range, Victori ...

Mata Taua Peak Rampart Ridge () is a prominent broken ridge on the west side of the Royal Society Range, standing north of Rutgers Glacier and extending from The Spire to Bishop Peak. Surveyed and given this descriptive name in February 1957 by the New Zealan ...

* McConchie Ridge *

McDermott Glacier Harvey Summit () is a peak high at the head of McDermott Glacier in the Royal Society Range of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after John W. Harvey of the National Solar ...

McMurdo Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby ...

* Mitchell Glacier * Mount Bockheim * Mount Chiang *

Mount Cocks Mount Cocks in Antarctica is a mountain at the head of the Koettlitz Glacier in southern Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southwar ...

Mount Duvall Mount Schwerdtfeger () is a peak, high on the ridge at the head of Renegar Glacier, south of Mount Kempe in the Royal Society Range, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Name Mount Schwerdtfeger was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antar ...

* Mount Essinger * Mount Fuller * Mount Hooker * Mount Huggins * Mount Huxle * Mount Kempe *

Mount Lisicky Mount Lisicky () is a peak, high, standing northwest of Mount Cocks in the Royal Society Range, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from ground surveys and Navy air photos, and was named by the Advisory Committee ...

* Mount Lister *

Mount Mignone The Cathedral Rocks () are a series of four abrupt cliffs interspersed by short glaciers and surmounted by sharp peaks. The cliffs extend for along the south side of Ferrar Glacier and form part of the north shoulder of the Royal Society Rang ...

Mount Moxley Mount Moxley () is a peak in the Royal Society Range, surmounting the divide between Potter and Wirdnam Glaciers. Mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and Navy air photos. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic ...

* Mount Rucker * Mount Schwerdtfeger * Mount Stearns * Mount Windle * Murcray Heights * Murihau Peak * Navajo Butte *

Pearsall Ridge Pearsall Ridge () is a ridge, for the most part ice-covered, which extends east-northeast from Royal Society Range between Descent Pass and Covert Glacier, in Victoria Land. Named in 1992 by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after Ri ...

* Platform Spur * Potter Glacier * Poutini Peak *

Puke Toropa Mountain Puke Toropa Mountain is a mostly ice-covered mountain in the Royal Society Range of Antarctica. It stands high and is situated south of Mount Rücker. It was named by the New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) in 1994. Its name is Māori Māori ...

Radian Glacier Radian Glacier () is a glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range, descending from a high cirque just southeast of Mount Rucker and flowing east toward Walcott Glacier. In the measurements made of this glacier by the Victoria University of ...

Rampart Ridge Rampart Ridge () is a prominent broken ridge on the west side of the Royal Society Range, standing north of Rutgers Glacier and extending from The Spire to Bishop Peak. Surveyed and given this descriptive name in February 1957 by the New Zealand ...

* Rester Peak *

Rucker Ridge Rucker may refer to: People * Rucker (surname) Places United States * Rucker Park, street basketball court in Manhattan, New York City, New York * Rucker, California, an historic district in unincorporated Santa Clara County, California * Rucker, ...

* Rutgers Glacier * Salient Glacier * Salient Peak * Salient Ridge * Shupe Peak * Skelton Glacier *

Skelton Névé Skelton Glacier is a large glacier flowing from the polar plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf at Skelton Inlet on the Hillary Coast, south of Victoria Land, Antarctica. Discovery and naming Named after the Skelton Inlet by the New Zealand party of ...

Sladen Summit Rampart Ridge () is a prominent broken ridge on the west side of the Royal Society Range, standing north of Rutgers Glacier and extending from The Spire to Bishop Peak. Surveyed and given this descriptive name in February 1957 by the New Zealand ...

* Solomon Glacier * Solomon Saddle * Sphinx Valley *

Spring Glacier Spring Glacier () is a glacier flowing from the northeast portion of Royal Society Range between Stoner Peak and Transit Ridge, joining the Blue Glacier drainage south of Granite Knolls, in Victoria Land. Named in 1992 by Advisory Committee on A ...

* Stoner Peak * Tasman Ridge *

Terminus Mountain Miers Valley () is a valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys located just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free in the Austral summer except for Miers Glacier and Ad ...

The Pimple The Pimple () is a small cone-shaped peak, 3,215 m, midway between Mount Lister and Camels Hump in the Royal Society Range, in Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea ...

Transit Ridge Transit Ridge () is a ridge, 4 nautical miles (7 km) long, extending east from Royal Society Range between Spring Glacier and Mitchell Glacier, in Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western si ...

* Tuati Peak * Umran Inan * Waiparahoaka Mountain * Walcott Glacier *

Ward Glacier Ward Glacier () is a small glacier between Terminus Mountain and Howchin Glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range in Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and th ...

* Ward Lake * Wirdnam Glacier

References

External links

*{{cite gvp, name=Royal Society Range, vn=390021, access-date=2021-06-24 Scott Coast Volcanoes of Victoria Land Cenozoic volcanism