Byrd Subglacial Basin () is a major subglacial basin of

West Antarctica West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transan ...

, extending east–west between the Crary Mountains and the

Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minneso ...

. It is bounded to the south by a low subglacial ridge which separates this feature from

Bentley Subglacial Trench The Bentley Subglacial Trench is a vast topographic trench in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, 80°S, 115°W. At 2,555 meters (8,382 ft) below sea level, it (along with the deepest points within the adjacent Byrd Subglacial Basin) is am ...

. A crude delineation of this subglacial basin was determined by several U.S. seismic parties operating from

Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. It was a year-round base until 1972, and then se ...

Little America V Little America was a series of Antarctic exploration bases from 1929 to 1958, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south of the Bay of Whales. They were built on ice that is moving very slowly, the relative location on the ice sheet, has moved and eventu ...

, and

Ellsworth Station Ellsworth Scientific Station (, or simply ''Estación Ellsworth'' or ''Base Ellsworth'') was a permanent, all year-round originally American, then Argentine Antarctic scientific research station named after American polar explorer Lincoln Ellswo ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. It was named by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(1961) for its locus relative to

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centu ...

and Byrd Station. This revised description, excluding Bentley Subglacial Trench and smaller basins to the south of

Flood Range The Flood Range () is a range of large snow-covered mountains extending in an east–west direction for about and forming a right angle with the southern end of the Ames Range in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Location The Flood Range is south ...

and the

Ford Ranges The Ford Ranges () are a collection of mountain groups and ranges standing east of Sulzberger Ice Shelf and Block Bay in the northwest part of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Location The Ford Ranges lie along the coast of Marie Byrd Land to the s ...

, follows delineation of the region by the

Scott Polar Research Institute The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south ...

–

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

–

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

airborne radio echo sounding program, 1967–79.

Lowest Depth on Earth

On March 8, 2013, the British Antarctic Survey reported on the creation of Bedmap2, the most detailed map of Antarctica's landmass to date. It showed for the first time the true depth of Byrd Subglacial Basin: 2,870 meters below sea level. This makes Byrd Subglacial Basin the lowest point on any of the Earth's continental plates. However, because of the glacier sitting on the basin, this point is ultimately unreachable.

References

* Structural basins of Antarctica Landforms of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-geo-stub