Alph River () is a small river, flowing in summertime, on the northern side of

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 ...

, Scott Coast, Antarctica. It rises from Koettlitz ice at the upper end of Pyramid Trough and from south to north includes Pyramid Ponds, Trough Lake, Walcott Lake, Howchin Lake, and Alph Lake. The Alph ends in a

subglacial stream Subglacial streams are conduits of glacial meltwater that flow at the base of glaciers and ice caps. Meltwater from the glacial surface travels downward throughout the glacier, forming an englacial drainage system consisting of a network of passages ...

beneath Koettlitz Glacier to

McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...

Exploration and name

The portion north of Pyramid Trough was explored and named in February 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition (BrAE) Western Journey Party led by

Thomas Griffith Taylor Thomas Griffith "Grif" Taylor (1 December 1880 – 5 November 1963) was an English-born geographer, anthropologist and world explorer. He was a survivor of Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica (1910–1913). Taylor was a ...

. He reported that the stream continues north a considerable distance under moraine and ultimately subglacially beneath Koettlitz Glacier to the Ross Sea. This led to the name from a passage in

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

's poem

Kubla Khan "Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream" () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to "Kub ...

: "Where Alph the sacred river ran, Through caverns measureless to man, Down to a sunless sea." The nearby Xanadu Hills are named from the same poem.

Features

Pyramid Ponds

A group of ponds lying south of Trough Lake in Pyramid Trough on Scott Coast. Named by New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1994) in association with Pyramid Trough and The Pyramid.

Trough Lake

. A permanently ice-covered pro-glacial lake in the Pyramid Trough. Descriptively named in association with Pyramid Trough.

Walcott Lake

. One of several lakes in the Alph River system, this one located 1.3 miles east of the snout of Walcott Glacier on Scott Coast. Named by NZGB (1994) in association with Walcott Glacier.

Walcott South Stream

. A meltwater stream from the southern part of the snout of Walcott Glacier. It flows eastward to Walcott Lake on Scott Coast. Named by NZGB (1994) in association with Walcott Glacier.

Walcott North Stream

. A meltwater stream from the northern part of the snout of Walcott Glacier. It flows eastward to Walcott Lake on Scott Coast. Named by NZGB (1994) in association with Walcott Glacier.

Howchin Lake

. A lake, one of several in the Alph River system, located southeast of the snout of Howchin Glacier in Denton Hills. Named by NZGB (1994) in association with Howchin Glacier.

Alph Lake

. Lake at the foot of Ward Valley on the north-west side of Koettlitz Glacier. It is long, and surrounded by steep

morainic A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

walls. Named by Griffth Taylor of the BrAE, 1911–13 (Capt. Robert Scott) in association with Alph River.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{Include-USGov , agency=United States Geological Survey Rivers of Victoria Land Scott Coast