Transantarctic Mountains

View of the Transantarctic Mountains in northern Victoria Land

The Transantarctic Mountains are a mountain range in Antarctica which extends with some interruptions between Cape Adare in Victoria Land and Coats Land.

The mountain range crosses between the west coast of Ross and the east coast of the Weddell Sea the entire Antarctic continent, hence the name. It reaches heights of over 4500 m. The 100-300 km wide mountain ridge forms over long distances, the boundary between East Antarctica and West Antarctica. The peaks of the mountains are some of the few places where the ice sheet covering the continent is broken. However, the Transantarctic Mountains is not free everywhere evident, but is locally completely covered by ice sheets. A special Antarctic phenomenon represent the situated near the station McMurdo Dry Valleys: tracts of land which are of snow and ice, because in them there is virtually no precipitation.

With a length of about 3500 km the Transantarctic Mountains is the fifth- longest mountain range on earth. Partly also the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula are added; even then results in a total length of about 4800 km. Highest mountain is 4528 m high Mount Kirkpatrick.

The Transantarctic Mountains are considerably older than other mountain ranges of the continent, of volcanic origin (though the mountain itself has some volcanic shares). His unfolding began about 65 million years ago in the Cenozoic. The mountain is composed mainly of sand and Doleritsteinen together, which in turn are partly caused more than 400 million years ago (from the Silurian ). The not lying under the ice mountains, fossils and geological drilling (eg in Cape Roberts Project) have helped scientists to learn more about the history of the Antarctic continent and its central role in the supercontinent Gondwana.

The name " Transantarktisches Mountains" in 1962 recommended by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names of the U.S. Agency for geographical names. This purely descriptive name ( unlike many other geographical name of the sixth continent, often honoring famous people ) is now recognized internationally.

Geographical breakdown

  • Mountains of Victoria Land
  • Prince Albert and McMurdo mountains
  • Queen Alexandra Range
  • Queen Maud Mountains
  • Horlickberge
  • Thiel mountains
  • Pensacola Mountains
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