Maya Mountain () is a small pyramidal

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

, about high, between

Aztec Mountain Aztec Mountain is a small pyramidal mountain over high, just southwest of Maya Mountain and west of Beacon Valley in Victoria Land. It was so named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1958–59) because its shape resem ...

and

Pyramid Mountain Pyramid Mountain can refer to: ;Antarctica * Pyramid Mountain (Antarctica), in the Quartermain Mountains * Pyramid Mountain (Churchill Mountains), in the Churchill Mountains ;Canada *Pyramid Mountain (Alberta) in Jasper National Park, Alberta * Pyr ...

, just south of

Taylor Glacier The Taylor Glacier () is a glacier in Antarctica about long, flowing from the plateau of Victoria Land into the western end of Taylor Valley, north of the Kukri Hills. It flows to the south of the Asgard Range. The middle part of the glacier is ...

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. It was so named by the

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 19 ...

(1958–59) because its shape resembles the pyramidal ceremonial platforms used by the

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

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

Geology

The slopes of Maya Mountain expose a sequence of sedimentary strata of the Beacon Supergroup. The Weller Coal Measures form its summit. It is underlain by the Metschel Tillite and the Aztec Siltstone with the Beacon Heights Quartzite at the mountain's base. The Maya Mountain is the type locality of the Maya erosion surface. It is a regionally significant

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

that separates the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

glacial 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 ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

of Metschel Tillite of the Victoria Group from the underlying

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

redbed Red beds (or redbeds) are sedimentary rocks, typically consisting of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, that are predominantly red in color due to the presence of ferric oxides. Frequently, these red-colored sedimentary strata locally contain t ...

s of the Aztec Siltstone of the Taylor Group within the Beacon Supergroup.Harrington, J., 1965. ''Geology and morphology of Antarctica.'' In: Van Oye, P., and Van Mieghen, J., eds., pp. 1-71, ''Biogeography and ecology in Antarctica.'' ''Monographiae Biologicae'', 15. Dordrecht: Springer, Netherlands. This erosion surface is a regionally extensive glacially eroded unconformity that represents a period of non-deposition and/or erosion lasting for about 86 to 109 million years. The Maya Erosion Surface is overlain by locally preserved remnants of the Metschel Tillite. Over large areas, the Metschel Tillite and Maya Erosion Surface have been removed later erosion that created the younger Pyramid Erosion Surface.McKelvey, B.C., Webb, P.N., Gorton, M.P. and Kohn, B.P., 1970. ''Stratigraphy of the Beacon Supergroup between the Olympus and Boomerang Ranges, Victoria Land, Antarctica.'' ''Nature'', 227(5263), pp.1126-1128Cox, S.C., Turnbull, I.M., Isaac, M.J., Townsend, D.B., and Smith, L.B., 2012. ''Geology of southern Victoria Land Antarctica.'' ''Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences 1:250 000 Geological Map,'' 22. Lower Hutt, New Zealand. GNS Science. 1 sheet, 135pp. In nearby

, the Maya erosion surface exhibits smoothly rounded and northwest-to-southeast aligned grooves and ridges that are argued to be the result of glacial erosion.McKelvey, B.C., Webb, P.N. and Kohn, B.P., 1977. ''Stratigraphy of the Taylor and lower Victoria Groups (Beacon Supergroup) between the Mackay Glacier and Boomerang Range, Antarctica.'' ''New Zealand journal of Geology and Geophysics'', 20(5), pp.813-863.

References

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

Geology

See also

References