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Mount Kirkpatrick is a lofty, generally ice-free mountain in Antarctica's Queen Alexandra Range. Located 8 km (5 mi) west of
Mount Kirkpatrick holds one of the most important fossil sites in Antarctica, the Hanson Formation. Because Antarctica used to be warmer and supported dense Science Daily 12 December 2007
/ref>
Paper (Smith, N.D. and Pol, D. 2007) on ''Glacialisaurus hammeri''
Mount Dickerson
Mount Dickerson is a prominent mountain, standing 6 km (4 mi) east of Mount Kirkpatrick in the Queen Alexandra Range in East Antarctica. The mountain was named by US-ACAN for LCDR Richard G. Dickerson, US Navy, VX-6
Air Development Sq ...
, Mount Kirkpatrick is the highest point in the Queen Alexandra Range, as well as in its parent range, the Transantarctic Mountains. Discovered and named by the British Antarctic Expedition (1907–1909), the mountain was named for a Glasgow businessman, who was one of the original supporters of the expedition. ''Mount Kilpatrick'' is an alternate name for this mountain.
Mount Kirkpatrick as a fossil site
Mount Kirkpatrick holds one of the most important fossil sites in Antarctica, the Hanson Formation. Because Antarctica used to be warmer and supported dense conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
and cycad forest, and because all the continents were fused into a giant supercontinent called Pangaea, many ancient Antarctic wildlife share relatives elsewhere in the world. Among these creatures are tritylodont
Tritylodontidae ("three-knob teeth", named after the shape of their cheek teeth) is an extinct family of small to medium-sized, highly specialized mammal-like cynodonts, bearing several mammalian traits like erect limbs, endothermy and details ...
s, herbivorous mammal-like reptiles that are prevalent elsewhere at the time. A crow-sized pterosaur has been identified. In addition to these finds, numerous dinosaur remains have been uncovered. Fossils of dinosaurs resembling '' Plateosaurus'', '' Coelophysis'', and '' Dilophosaurus'' were excavated. Mount Kirkpatrick holds the first dinosaur scientifically named on the continent: the large predatory '' Cryolophosaurus''. In 2004, scientists have even found partial remains of a large sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
plant-eating dinosaur.
''Glacialisaurus
''Glacialisaurus'' is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic period around 186 to 182 million years ago in what is now the central region of the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. I ...
hammeri'', an herbivorous dinosaur thought to be around long and weighing perhaps 4-6 tons, was also identified from fossils on Mount Kirkpatrick in 2007, the only known site of ''Glacialisaurus hammeri''./ref>
See also
* List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)''Paper (Smith, N.D. and Pol, D. 2007) on ''Glacialisaurus hammeri''
References
Mountains of the Ross Dependency Four-thousanders of Antarctica Mount Kirkpatrick Mount Kirkpatrick {{ShackletonCoast-geo-stub