Leverett Glacier in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

is about long and wide, draining northward from the

Watson Escarpment Watson Escarpment () is a major escarpment in the Queen Maud Mountains, trending northward along the east margin of Scott Glacier, then eastward to Reedy Glacier where it turns southward along the glacier's west side. Somewhat arcuate, the escarp ...

, between

California Plateau California Plateau () is an undulating ice-covered plateau, long and from wide, which rises to at the eastern side of Scott Glacier. The plateau reaches a maximum height of in Mount Blackburn at the southern end. The northwestern side of the pl ...

and

Stanford Plateau Stanford Plateau () is an icecapped plateau, over 3,000 m high and 15 nautical miles (28 km) wide, between the heads of Leverett and Kansas Glaciers. The plateau unites with the interior ice sheet to the south, but terminates to the north in t ...

, and then trending west-northwest between the

Tapley Mountains The Tapley Mountains () is a mountain range fronting on the eastern side of the Scott Glacier, extending eastward for between Leverett and Albanus glaciers in the Queen Maud Mountains, a part of the larger Transantarctic Mountains. Discover ...

and

Harold Byrd Mountains The Harold Byrd Mountains (), also known more simply as the Byrd Mountains, are a group of exposed mountains and nunataks which extend in an east–west direction between the lower part of Leverett Glacier and the head of the Ross Ice Shelf in An ...

to terminate at the head of the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between h ...

close east of Scott Glacier. It was discovered in December 1929 by the

Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

geological party under

Laurence Gould Laurence McKinley Gould (August 22, 1896 – June 21, 1995) was an American geologist, educator, and polar explorer. He made expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and was chief scientist on Richard Evelyn Byrd's first Antarctic expeditio ...

, and named by him for

Frank Leverett Frank Leverett (March 10, 1859 – November 15, 1943) was an American geologist who specialised in glaciology. Biography Frank Leverett was born on March 10, 1859 in Denmark, Iowa and was descended from a family that emigrated from Boston, Linc ...

, an eminent geologist at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and an authority on the glacial geology of the central

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Leverett Glacier is on the route through the

Transantarctic Mountains The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted (primarily sedimentary) rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land. ...

for the

McMurdo – South Pole Highway Vice-Admiral Archibald McMurdo (24 September 1812 – 11 December 1875) was a Scottish naval officer and polar explorer after whom Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station, McMurdo Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valleys and McMurdo–South Pole Hig ...

, an overland supply route between

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Un ...

and

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the United States scientific research station at the South Pole of the Earth. It is the southernmost point under the jurisdiction (not sovereignty) of the United States. The station is located on the ...

References

Glaciers of Marie Byrd Land {{MarieByrdLand-glacier-stub

See also

References