Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
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
Biology
5 SEE ALSO
David Glacier with the Drygalski Ice Tongue in the far distance
Aerial view of the Beardmore Glacier in 1957
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
5.4
Southern TAM
Cape Adare
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
Shackleton Glacier
Liv Glacier
Amundsen Glacier
Scott Glacier
Bush Mountains
Commonwealth Range
Dominion Range
Herbert Range
Prince Olav Mountains
Hughes Range
Supporters Range
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
7 External links
Map of the Transantarctic Mountains
Transantarctic Mountains at Peakbagger.com
8.1
Text
8.2
Images
File:Antarctica_major_geographical_features.jpg Source:
major_geographical_features.jpg License:
Public domain
http://lima.nasa.gov/antarctica/ Original artist: ?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Antarctica_
Contributors:
http://lima.nasa.gov/pdf/A3_overview.pdf from
8.3
Content license