Mirabilite Pond
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Mirabilite Pond
Hidden Valley () is the ice-free valley next south of Miers Valley through which an alpine glacier formerly moved to coalesce with Koettlitz Glacier. The mouth of the valley is completely blocked by the Koettlitz moraine, the only one of the numerous valleys tributary to the Koettlitz isolated in this fashion. The main valley is hidden not only from the coast but from most of the surrounding ridges. The valley was traversed during December and January by the New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) 1960-61 who applied the name. Location Hidden Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It lies to the southwest of Miers Valley, southeast of Adams Glacier and northwest of Ward Glacier. The valley opens onto the Koettlitz Glacier to the southeast. Features The Keyhole . A narrow ice-carved slot, or defile, between the Adams Glacier and Hidden Valley. It provides the only low-level entrance to Hidden Valley, and is ...
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Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of . Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of . Antarctica is, on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual Climate of Antarctica#Precipitation, precipitation of over along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which, if melted, would raise global sea levels by almost . Antarctica holds the record for the Lowest temperature recorded on Earth, lowest measured temperature on Earth, . The coastal regions can reach temperatures over in the ...
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Miers Valley
Miers Valley () is a valley just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free except for Miers Glacier in its upper (western) part and Lake Miers near its center. It was mapped and named by Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13. The name is possibly after Edward J. Miers, a marine biologist from the British Museum (Natural History) who examined crustacea from the ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' expeditions. Location Miers Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is south of Marshall Valley and north of Hidden Valley, and opens onto the Koettlitz Glacier to the east. Catacomb Hill rises to the west of the Miers Glacier, at the head of the valley, on a ridge that separates it from the Blue Glacier to the west. Features include Catacomb Hill, Mount Lama, Miers Glacier, Adams Glacier, Holiday Peak, Lake Miers and Penance Pass. Features Catacomb Hill . ...
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Koettlitz Glacier
Koettlitz Glacier () is a large Antarctic glacier lying west of Mount Morning and Mount Discovery in the Royal Society Range, flowing from the vicinity of Mount Cocks northeastward between Brown Peninsula and the mainland into the ice shelf of McMurdo Sound. Naming and exploration Koettlitz Glacier was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04) which named it for Dr. Reginald Koettlitz, physician and botanist of the expedition. Glaciology The Koettlitz Glacier appears to have been smaller during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) than it is today, while the Ross Ice Shelf was larger. There is evidence that during the LGM the mouth of the Pyramid Trough was blocked by grounded Ross Sea ice until at least 11,000 years ago. In the last 3,000 years the glacier has advanced, and today the mouth of ice-free Pyramid Trough is blocked by the Koettlitz Glacier. Under this hypothesis, the glacier may have been thicker at the coast due to buttressing, but may hav ...
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Victoria University Of Wellington Antarctic Expedition
The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) is part of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. Its mission is to research " Antarctic climate history and processes, and their influence on the global climate system. The current director of the Antarctic Research Centre is Associate Professor Robert McKay. Directors * 1972–2007: Professor Peter Barrett * 2008–2016: Professor Tim Naish * 2017–2019: Professor Andrew Mackintosh * 2020–present: Professor Robert McKay History In December 1957, geology students Barrie McKelvey and Peter Webb along with biologist Ron Balham conducted an expedition to the then unexplored McMurdo Dry Valleys via the Royal New Zealand Navy Antarctic support ship HMNZS ''Endeavour''. This expedition formed the basic for the annual Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expeditions, which continue to the present day. Since this first expedition, over 400 staff and students have travelled to t ...
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Denton Hills
The Denton Hills () are a group of rugged foothills, long southwest–northeast and wide, to the east of the Royal Society Range on the Scott Coast, Victoria Land, Antarctica. The Denton Hills comprise a series of eastward-trending ridges and valleys circumscribed by Howchin Glacier, Armitage Saddle, Blue Glacier, the coast, and Walcott Bay. The highest summits, Mount Kowalczyk at , and Goat Mountain at , rise from Hobbs Ridge in the northern part of the foothills. Elevations decrease southward as in Kahiwi Maihao Ridge, high near the center of the group and the Xanadu Hills, high at the southern end. The principal glaciers (Hobbs, Blackwelder, Salmon, Garwood, Joyce, Rivard, Miers, Adams, Ward) flow east but have receded, leaving several dry valleys. Exploration The Denton Hills were discovered and roughly mapped by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott. The hills were mapped in detail by United States Antarctic Research ...
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McMurdo Dry Valleys
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely Antarctic oasis, snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby glaciers. The rocks there are granites and gneisses, and glacial tills dot this bedrock landscape, with loose gravel covering the ground. It is one of the driest places on Earth, though there are several anecdotal accounts of rainfall within the Dry Valleys. The region is one of the world's most extreme deserts, and includes many features including Lake Vida, a saline lake, and the Onyx River, a meltwater stream and Antarctica's longest river. Although no living organisms have been found in the permafrost here, Endolithic lichen, endolithic Photosynthesis, photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in the relatively moist interior of rocks, and anaerobic bacteria, with a metabolism based on iron and sulfur, live under ...
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Adams Glacier (Victoria Land)
Miers Valley () is a valley just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free except for Miers Glacier in its upper (western) part and Lake Miers near its center. It was mapped and named by Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13. The name is possibly after Edward J. Miers, a marine biologist from the British Museum (Natural History) who examined crustacea from the ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' expeditions. Location Miers Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is south of Marshall Valley and north of Hidden Valley, and opens onto the Koettlitz Glacier to the east. Catacomb Hill rises to the west of the Miers Glacier, at the head of the valley, on a ridge that separates it from the Blue Glacier to the west. Features include Catacomb Hill, Mount Lama, Miers Glacier, Adams Glacier, Holiday Peak, Lake Miers and Penance Pass. Features Catacomb Hill . A ...
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Ward Glacier
Ward Valley () is an ice-free valley that lies between Porter Hills and Xanadu Hills and east of the snout of Ward Glacier in the Denton Hills, Scott Coast, Antarctica. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN; 1994) in association with Ward Glacier and Ward Lake. Location Ward Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It lies between Hidden Valley to the northeast and Howchin Glacier to the southwest. It opens into the Koettlitz Glacier to the southeast. Features Ward Glacier . Small glacier between Terminus Mountain and Howchin Glacier on the east side of the Royal Society Range in Victoria Land. Named by Taylor of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13 (BrAE) for L. Ward, a Tasmanian geologist. Ward Stream . A meltwater stream from the Ward Glacier. It flows eastward through Ward Valley and Ward Lake into Alph Lake. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1994) in association with Ward Glacier and Ward Lake. Ward ...
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Lake Miers
Miers Valley () is a valley just south of Marshall Valley and west of Koettlitz Glacier, on the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. The valley is ice-free except for Miers Glacier in its upper (western) part and Lake Miers near its center. It was mapped and named by Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition, 1910–13. The name is possibly after Edward J. Miers, a marine biologist from the British Museum (Natural History) who examined crustacea from the ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' expeditions. Location Miers Valley is in the Denton Hills. It is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is south of Marshall Valley and north of Hidden Valley, and opens onto the Koettlitz Glacier to the east. Catacomb Hill rises to the west of the Miers Glacier, at the head of the valley, on a ridge that separates it from the Blue Glacier to the west. Features include Catacomb Hill, Mount Lama, Miers Glacier, Adams Glacier, Holiday Peak, Lake Miers and Penance Pass. Features Catacomb Hill . ...
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Mirabilite
Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral that forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate-bearing brines. It is found around saline springs and along saline playa lakes. Associated minerals include gypsum, halite, thenardite, trona, glauberite, and epsomite. Mirabilite is unstable and quickly dehydrates in dry air, the prismatic crystals turning into a white powder, thenardite (Na2SO4). In turn, thenardite can also absorb water and converts to mirabilite. Mirabilite is used as a purgative and anti-inflammatory remedy in the Traditional Chinese medicine; in Mandarin, it is called máng xiāo 硭硝. The name 'mirabilite' is based on the phrase ''"Sal mirabilis"'' (Latin for "wonderful salt") used by Johann Rudolph Glauber when he inadvertently synthesized mirabilite. Mirabilite is found in several areas within the Mammoth Cave System, wh ...
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