Matataua Glacier, formerly Marchant Glacier () is a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

, about long, which drains the slopes of

Rampart Ridge Rampart Ridge () is a prominent broken ridge on the west side of the Royal Society Range, Antarctica. It stands north of Rutgers Glacier and extends from The Spire to Bishop Peak. Exploration and name Rampart Ridge was surveyed and given this d ...

between Mount Bishop and Mount Potter and flows northwest to the vicinity of Mount Bockheim, in the

Royal Society Range The Royal Society Range () is a majestic range of mountains in Victoria Land, Antarctica, rising to along the west shore of McMurdo Sound between the Koettlitz, Skelton and Ferrar Glaciers. They are south of the Kukri Hills, southeast of the Q ...

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

, Antarctica.

Name

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 ...

in 1994 after

David R. Marchant David R. Marchant is an American glacial geologist and former professor at Boston University. Prior to working at Boston University, Marchant worked at the University of Maine. His approach to glaciology has been described as "stabilism", the belie ...

, a glacial geologist at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

(and from 1995 at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

). In connection with Antarctic field work since 1985, Marchant discovered and used volcanic ashes to infer paleoclimate change and geologic stability in the

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 ...

and map the glacial history of the

East Antarctic Ice Sheet The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) lies between 45th meridian west, 45° west and 168th meridian east, 168° east longitudinally. It was first formed around 34 million years ago, and it is the largest ice sheet on the entire planet, with far gre ...

. Marchant was put on paid administrative leave by Boston University in February 2018 for sexually harassing multiple female graduate students in Antarctica. In 2019, BU President

Robert A. Brown Robert A. Brown (born July 22, 1951) is an American chemical engineer and university administrator. He was the 10th president of Boston University and a former provost of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1991, Brown was elected ...

terminated Marchant's employment. The incidents are thoroughly chronicled in the documentary ''

Picture a Scientist ''Picture a Scientist'' is a 2020 documentary highlighting gender inequality in science. The movie tells the stories of several prominent female researchers, and brings to light the barriers they encountered, including cases of discrimination an ...

''. It was renamed Matataua Glacier by ACAN/BGN in September 2018 because of its proximity to Mata Taua Peak. The name Matataua Glacier represents a change in designation that brings the name of this feature into alignment with ACAN policies.

References

Glaciers of Victoria Land Scott Coast {{ScottCoast-geo-stub