Fremouw Peak () is a prominent peak, high, forming the south side of the mouth of Prebble Glacier, in the

Queen Alexandra Range The Queen Alexandra Range () is a major mountain range about long, bordering the entire western side of Beardmore Glacier from the Polar Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf. The range is in the Transantarctic Mountains System, and is located in the Ross ...

, Antarctica. 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 ...

for Edward J. Fremouw, a

United States Antarctic Research Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the ...

aurora scientist at

South Pole Station South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, 1959.Stewart, J., 2011. ''Antarctica: An Encyclopedia,'' 2nd ed. Jefferson, North Carolina and London, McFarland & Company, Inc. 1771 pp. The

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

Fremouw Formation The Fremouw Formation is a Triassic-age rock formation in the Transantarctic Mountains of the Ross Depenency of Antarctica. It contains the oldest known fossils of tetrapods from Antarctica, including synapsids, reptiles and amphibians. Fossiliz ...

is named for a thick interval of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s exposed on the slopes of Fremouw Peak. This peak serves as the type locality for the Fremouw Formation. Fragmentary

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been found in these sedimentary rocks.Barrett, P.J., 1969, ''Stratigraphy and petrology of the mainly fluviatile Permian and Triassic Beacon rocks, Beardmore Glacier area, Antarctica.'' ''Ohio State University Institute of Polar Studies Report'' 34, pp1-132 .Barrett, P.J., Elliot, D.H., Lindsay, J.F., 1986. ''The Beacon Supergroup (Devonian–Triassic) and Ferrar Group (Jurassic) in the Beardmore Glacier area, Antarctica.'' In: Turner, M.D., and Splettstoesser, J.F., eds, pp. 339-428, ''Geology of the central Transantarctic Mountains.'' ''American Geophysical Research Series'', 36. Washington, DC, American Geophysical Union, 453 pp. Of more significance is an

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

, permineralized (silicified) into

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

, that occurs on Fremouw Peak. This unique chert deposit contains anatomically preserved plant fossils. These fossils can be used to reconstructing complex three-dimensional plant structures and understand reproductive biology and development.Taylor, E.L., and Taylor, T.N., 1990. ''Structurally Preserved Permian and Triassic Floras from Antarctica.'' In: Taylor, T.N., and Taylor, E.L., eds, pp. 149-164, ''Antarctic Paleobiology, its Role in the Reconstruction of Gondwana'', New York, New York, Springer-Verlag, 216 pp. Bomfleur, B., Schneider, J.W., Schöner, R., Viereck-Götte, L. and Kerp, H., 2011. ''Fossil sites in the continental Victoria and Ferrar groups (Triassic-Jurassic) of north Victoria Land, Antarctica.'' ''Polarforschung'', 80(2), pp.88-99.

References

Paleontological sites of Antarctica Mountains of the Ross Dependency Shackleton Coast {{ShackletonCoast-geo-stub

See also

References