The Scott Nunataks are a group of conspicuous nunataks lying about 18 km east of the Richter Glacier and forming the northern end of the

Alexandra Mountains :''See also Queen Alexandra Range'' Alexandra Mountains () is a group of low, separated mountains in the north portion of Edward VII Peninsula, just southwest of Sulzberger Bay in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered in January–February 19 ...

King Edward VII Land King Edward VII Land or King Edward VII Peninsula is a large, ice-covered peninsula which forms the northwestern extremity of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica. The peninsula projects into the Ross Sea between Sulzberger Bay and the northeast corne ...

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 cont ...

History

The formation was discovered in 1902 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 (1839–184 ...

under Captain

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 ...

. It was named after Scott by Lieutenant Kristian Prestrud, leader of the Eastern Sledge Party of

Amundsen's South Pole expedition The first ever expedition to reach the geographic Southern Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as p ...

(1910–1912), who ascended the nunataks while exploring Edward VII Peninsula in 1911.

Historic monument

Prestrud's Cairn is a small rock cairn erected at the foot of the main bluff on the northern side of the

nunataks A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ''nunataq'') is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural p ...

on 3 December 1911 by Prestrud during Amundsen's expedition. It has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 66), following a proposal by New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

References

Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica King Edward VII Land Nunataks of the Ross Dependency {{RossDependency-geo-stub