Transantarctic Mountains

The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) It is believed that the last trees on the Antarctic continent
comprise a mountain range in Antarctica which extend, were on Transantarctic Mountains.[4]
with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape
Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land. These
mountains divide East Antarctica and West Antarctica.
They include a number of separately named mountain 3 History
groups, which are often again subdivided into smaller
The Transantarctic Mountains were rst seen by Captain
ranges.
James Ross in 1841 from the Ross Sea. The range is a
natural barrier that must be crossed to reach the South
Pole from the Ross Ice Shelf. In 1908, Ernest Shackle1 Geography
ton's party did not reach the South Pole, but was the rst
to cross the mountains through the Beardmore Glacier.
The mountain range stretches between the Ross Sea and Robert Scott returned to that same glacier in 1911, while
the Weddell Sea the entire length of Antarctica, hence Roald Amundsen crossed the range via the Axel Heiberg
the name. With a total length of about 3,500 km, the Glacier.
Transantarctic Mountains are one of the longest mountain
Much of the range remained unexplored until the late
ranges on Earth. The 100300 km wide range forms
1940s and 1950s, when missions such as Operation Highthe boundary between East Antarctica and West Antarcjump and the International Geophysical Year (IGY) made
tica. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet bounds the TAM along
extensive use of aerial photography and concentrated on a
their entire length on the Eastern Hemisphere side, while
thorough investigation of the entire continent. The name
the Western Hemisphere side of the range is bounded by
Transantarctic Mountains was rst applied to this range
the Ross Sea (C.Michael Hogan. 2011) in Victoria Land
in a 1960 paper [5] by geologist Warren B. Hamilton, folfrom Cape Adare to McMurdo Sound, the Ross Ice Shelf
lowing his IGY eldwork. It was subsequently recomfrom McMurdo Sound to near the Scott Glacier, and the
mended by the US-ACAN committee, a US authority for
West Antarctic Ice Sheet beyond.
geographic names, in 1962. This purely descriptive label
The summits and dry valleys of the TAM are some of the (in contrast to many other geographic names on Antarcfew places in Antarctica not covered by ice, the highest tica) is internationally accepted at present.
of which rise more than 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above
The Leverett Glacier in the Queen Maud Mountains is
sea level. The McMurdo Dry Valleys lie near McMurdo
the planned route through the TAM for the overland supSound and represent a special Antarctic phenomenon:
ply road between McMurdo Station and AmundsenScott
landscapes that are snow and ice free due to the extremely
South Pole Station.
limited precipitation and ablation of ice in the valleys.
The highest mountain of the TAM is 4,528 m high Mount
Kirkpatrick in the Queen Alexandra Range. Isolated
peaks surrounded by ice are referred to as nunataks.
4 Geology

Main articles: Tectonic evolution of the Transantarctic

Mountains and Geology of Antarctica

Biology

Main article: Antarctic ecozone

The Transantarctic Mountains are considerably older

than other mountain ranges of the continent that are
Penguins, seals, and sea birds live along the Ross Sea mainly volcanic in origin. The range was uplifted during
coastline in Victoria Land, while life in the interior of the opening of the West Antarctic Rift to the east, beginthe Transantarctic Range is limited to bacteria,[1] lichens, ning about 65 million years ago in the early Cenozoic.
algae, and fungi. Forests once covered Antarctica, includ- The mountains consist of sedimentary layers lying upon a
ing plentiful Wollemi Pine and Southern Beech.[2] How- basement of granites and gneisses. The sedimentary layever, with the gradual cooling associated with the break- ers include the Beacon Supergroup sandstones, siltstones,
up of Gondwana, these forests gradually disappeared.[3] and coal deposited beginning in the Silurian period and
1

5 SEE ALSO

David Glacier with the Drygalski Ice Tongue in the far distance
Aerial view of the Beardmore Glacier in 1957

Mount Herschel (3,335 m) in the Admiralty Mountains subrange,

as seen from Cape Hallett
Byrd Glacier from Landsat

continuing into the Jurassic. In many places the Beacon Supergroup has been intruded by dikes and sills of
Jurassic age Ferrar Dolerite. Many of the fossils found in
Antarctica are from locations within these sedimentary
formations.
Ice from the East Antarctic ice sheet ows through the
Transantarctic Mountains via a series of outlet glaciers
into the Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, and West Antarctic Ice
Sheet. These glaciers generally ow perpendicular to the
orientation of the range and dene subranges and peak
groups. It is thought that many of these outlet glaciers
follow the traces of large-scale geologic faults.
The Thiel Mountains

See also

In geographic order from the Ross Sea towards the

Weddell Sea:

5.1 Victoria Land

Lillie Glacier
Concord Mountains

5.4

Southern TAM

Cape Adare

5.4 Southern TAM

Admiralty Mountains

Reedy Glacier

Cape Hallett

Horlick Mountains

Tucker Glacier

Thiel Mountains

Victory Mountains

Pensacola Mountains

Mariner Glacier
Aviator Glacier
Terra Nova Bay
Priestley Glacier
Prince Albert Mountains
David Glacier and Drygalski Ice Tongue
Mackay Glacier
McMurdo Dry Valleys
Ferrar Glacier
McMurdo Sound

5.2

Central TAM

Mulock Glacier
Byrd Glacier
Nimrod Glacier
Queen Alexandra Range
Beardmore Glacier

5.3

Queen Maud Mountains

Shackleton Glacier
Liv Glacier
Amundsen Glacier
Scott Glacier
Bush Mountains
Commonwealth Range
Dominion Range
Herbert Range
Prince Olav Mountains
Hughes Range
Supporters Range

Support Force Glacier

Foundation Ice Stream
Shackleton Range
Theron Mountains
Bailey Ice Stream

6 References
[1] Sokol, Eric; Craig W. Herbold; Charles K. Lee; S.
Craig Cary; J. E. Barrett (Nov 2013). Local and regional inuences over soil microbial metacommunities in
the Transantarctic Mountains. Ecosphere. 4: art136.
doi:10.1890/es13-00136.1. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
[2] Woodford, J. 2000. The Wollemi Pine. Melbourne: Text
Publishing. pp. 85-104
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Hamilton, Warren B. (1960).
New interpretation
of Antarctic tectonics. Geological Survey Research
1960 Short Papers in the Geological Sciences,
pp.
B379380.
Washington DC: US Geological Survey.
https://books.google.com/books?id=
iGpXAAAAMAAJ&pg=SL2-PA379&lpg=SL2-PA379

C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Ross Sea. Eds. P.Saundry

& C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National
Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC

7 External links
Map of the Transantarctic Mountains
Transantarctic Mountains at Peakbagger.com

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