The Billboard () is a massive
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
monolith in the
Sarnoff Mountains
Sarnoff Mountains () is a range of mountains, 25 nautical miles (46 km) long and 4 to 8 nautical miles (15 km) wide separating the west-flowing Boyd and Arthur Glaciers in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land. Walgreen Peak forms the no ...
of the
Ford Ranges
The Ford Ranges () are a grouping of mountain ranges standing east of Sulzberger Ice Shelf and Block Bay in the northwest part of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition on December 5, 1929, they were named by By ...
of
Marie Byrd Land
Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centur ...
,
West Antarctica
West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transant ...
, standing just west of
Mount Rea
Sarnoff Mountains () is a range of mountains, 25 nautical miles (46 km) long and 4 to 8 nautical miles (15 km) wide separating the west-flowing Boyd and Arthur Glaciers in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land. Walgreen Peak forms the no ...
between
Arthur Glacier
Arthur Glacier () is a valley glacier in Antarctica. It is about long, and flows west to Sulzberger Ice Shelf between the Swanson Mountains on the north and Mount Rea and Mount Cooper on the south, in the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land. It wa ...
and
Boyd Glacier. It was discovered in November 1934 by a Second
Byrd Antarctic Expedition
Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...
(1933–35) sledge party under
Paul Siple Paul Allman Siple (December 18, 1908 – November 25, 1968) was an American Antarctic explorer and geographer who took part in six Antarctic expeditions, including the two Byrd expeditions of 1928–1930 and 1933–1935, representing the Boy Scouts ...
, and is so named because of its form and appearance with vertical faces rising above the continental ice.
The summit was first visited by
Bruce Luyendyk and Kuno Lecha by helicopter in January 1993 during expedition
GANOVEX VII. In 1998–99,
Christine Siddoway
Christine Siddoway is an American Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on the geology and tectonics
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. Th ...
led a geological party from
Colorado College
Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...
that reached the summit by climbing a west route.
Geology
The Billboard is composed of Cretaceous Byrd Coast granite. It is topped by an erosion surface that reaches an elevation of , which is about above the outlet glacier below.
The surface lacks glacial erosion features; however
erratics found on the surface provide evidence of overriding by cold-based glacier ice. Features of prolonged surface weathering in a sub-aerial environment are sheeting and weathering pits.
[Stone, J.O., Balco, G.A., Sugden, D.E., Caffee, M.W., Sass III, L.C., Cowdery, S.G., and Siddoway, C., 2003, Holocene Deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica: Science, v. 299, p. 99-102][Sugden, D.E., Balco, G., Cowdery, S.G., Stone, J.O., and III, L.C.S., 2005, Selective glacial erosion and weathering zones in the coastal mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: Geomorphology, v. 67, p. 317-334]
References
Rock formations of Marie Byrd Land
Ford Ranges
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