Wilkes Land in Australian Antarctic Territory

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern

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 contine ...

, formally claimed by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

as part of the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Env ...

, though the validity of this claim has been placed for the period of the operation of the

Antarctic Treaty russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

, to which Australia is a signatory.

Geography

Wilkes Land fronts on the southern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

between Queen Mary Coast and

Adelie Land Adelie or Adélie may refer to: * Adélie Land, a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica * Adelie Land meteorite, a meteorite discovered on December 5, 1912, in Antarctica by Francis Howard Bickerton * Adélie penguin, a species of pen ...

, extending from Cape Hordern in 100°31' E to

Pourquoi Pas Point Pourquoi Pas () is an ice-covered point which forms the west side of the entrance to Victor Bay. It was charted by the French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First exped ...

, in 136°11' E. The region extends as a

sector Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a p ...

about 2600 km towards the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km², mostly glaciated.

Subdivisions

It is further subdivided in the following coastal areas which can also be thought of as sectors extending to the South Pole: # Knox Land: 100°31' E to 109°16' E #

Budd Land Budd Coast (), part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between the Hatch Islands, at 109°16'E, and Cape Waldron, at 115°33'E. It was discovered in February 1840 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42) under th ...

: 109°16' E to 115°33' E #

Sabrina Land Sabrina Coast () is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land, Antarctica, lying between Cape Waldron, at 115° 33' E, and Cape Southard, at 122° 05' E. John Balleny has long been credited with having seen land in March 1839 at about 117° E. T ...

: 115°33' E to 122°05' E #

Banzare Land Banzare Coast (), part of Wilkes Land, is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Cape Southard, at 122°05′E, and Cape Morse, at 130°10′E. This coast was spotted by the US Exploring Expedition in Feb. 1840. It was seen from t ...

: 122°05' E to 130°10' E #

Clarie Land Clarie Coast, called Wilkes Coast by Australia, () is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land lying between Cape Morse, at 130°10′E, and Pourquoi Pas Point, at 136°11′E. It was discovered in January 1840 by Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville, w ...

: (Wilkes Coast) 130°10' E to 136°11' E In a wider sense, Wilkes Land extends further East to

Point Alden Point Alden is an ice-covered point in Antarctica with rock exposures along the seaward side. The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Adélie Land, Adélie Coast and George V Coast in Antarctic ...

in 142°02' E, thereby including

Adélie Land Adélie Land (french: Terre Adélie, ) is a claimed territory on the continent of Antarctica. It stretches from a portion of the Southern Ocean coastline all the way inland to the South Pole. France has administered it as one of five districts ...

, which is claimed by France.

Name

Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he commanded ' during the ...

(later a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the

continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...

over a distance of 2,400 km (1,500

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

s) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that

is a

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E, George V Land, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.

Geology

Dibble Ice Shelf, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica

In 2006 a team of researchers led by Ralph von Frese and Laramie Potts used gravity measurements by NASA's

GRACE Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

satellites to discover the 300-mile-wide

Wilkes Land crater Wilkes Land crater is an informal term that may apply to two separate cases of conjectured giant impact craters hidden beneath the ice cap of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. These are separated below under the heading Wilkes Land anomaly and Wilkes L ...

, which probably formed about 250 million years ago.

In popular culture

Wilkes Land is featured prominently in the 1998 film ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

''.

Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterrest ...

journeys to

to save his partner

Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...

, who is being held there against her will. In the process, they discover a huge secret lab under the surface run by the

Cigarette-Smoking Man The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated CSM or C-Man; sometimes referred to as Cancer Man or the Smoking Man) is a fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the American science fiction drama television series ''The X-Files''. He ...

References