The Malta Plateau () is an ice-covered plateau of about extent in the

Victory Mountains The Victory Mountains () are a major group of mountains in Victoria Land, Antarctica, about long and wide, which is bounded primarily by Mariner and Tucker glaciers and the Ross Sea. They are north of the Mountaineer Range, east of the Freyber ...

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. The plateau is irregular in shape and is bounded on the south and west by

Mariner Glacier The Mariner Glacier () is a major glacier over long, descending southeast from the plateau of Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Mountaineer Range and Malta Plateau, and terminating at Lady Newnes Bay, Ross Sea, where it forms the floating Ma ...

, on the north by tributaries to

Trafalgar Glacier Tucker Glacier () is a major valley glacier of Victoria Land, Antarctica, about long, flowing southeast between the Admiralty Mountains and the Victory Mountains to the Ross Sea. There is a snow saddle at the glacier's head, just west of Homer ...

, and on the east by tributaries to

Borchgrevink Glacier Borchgrevink Glacier () is a large glacier in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It drains south between Malta Plateau and Daniell Peninsula, and thence projects into Glacier Strait (Antarctica), Glacier Strait, Ross Sea, as a floa ...

Name

The Malta Plateau was named by the

New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZ-APC) is an adjudicating committee established to authorize the naming of features in the Ross Dependency on the Antarctic continent. It is composed of the members of the New Zealand Geographic Board pl ...

(NZ-APC) to commemorate the island of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

in association with the Victory Mountains.

Geology

The plateau is part of the Melbourne Volcanic Province of the

McMurdo Volcanic Group The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a resu ...

Location

The Malta Plateau is to the south of the

, to the east and north of the

Seafarer Glacier The Mariner Glacier () is a major glacier over long, descending southeast from the plateau of Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Mountaineer Range and Malta Plateau, and terminating at Lady Newnes Bay, Ross Sea, where it forms the floating Ma ...

and the

, and to the west of the

. The west of the plateau is drained by Potts Glacier to the south, Olson Glacier and

Wilhelm Glacier The Mariner Glacier () is a major glacier over long, descending southeast from the plateau of Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Mountaineer Range and Malta Plateau, and terminating at Lady Newnes Bay, Ross Sea, where it forms the floating Marin ...

to the west,

Osuga Glacier Tucker Glacier () is a major valley glacier of Victoria Land, Antarctica, about long, flowing southeast between the Admiralty Mountains and the Victory Mountains to the Ross Sea. There is a snow saddle at the glacier's head, just west of Homer ...

and Trainer Glacier to the north. Features of the west include Mount Heg, Thomas Peak, Soft Snow Pass, Mount Hancox and Mount Finch. The east of the plateau is drained by the Line Glacier,

Hand Glacier Borchgrevink Glacier () is a large glacier in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It drains south between Malta Plateau and Daniell Peninsula, and thence projects into Glacier Strait, Ross Sea, as a floating glacier tongue. Expl ...

and Behr Glacier, which feed the Borchgrevink Glacier to the west, and by the Gruendler Glacier and

Rudolph Glacier Andvord Bay () is a bay, long and wide, which lies between Beneden Head and Duthiers Point along the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Location Andvord Bay is on the Danco Coast on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extands i ...

to the north, which feed the

. Features of the east include Collins Peak, Mount Burrill and Mount Hussey. Features of the south of the plateau include Mount Philipps, Cuneiform Cliffs, Mount Alberts, Tur Peak and Cape Crossfire.

Western features

Mount Heg

. A massive ice-covered mountain forming the south end of a promontory on the west side of Malta Plateau. It is bounded on the west, south and east sides by the

and Potts Glacier. The mountain first appears on a 1960 New Zealand map compiled from United States Navy aerial photographs. Named by the United States

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 ...

(US-ACAN) in 1972 for James E. Heg, Chief of the Polar Planning and Coordination Staff in the Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation.

Thomas Peak

. A peak high at the west side of Malta Plateau, situated on the ridge between Wilhelm and Olson Glaciers. Mapped by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) from surveys and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

air photos, 1960-64. Named by the US-ACAN for Francis J. Thomas, biologist at McMurdo Station, 1962-63 and 1964-65.

Soft Snow Pass

. A snow pass at about high at the head of

, a tributary of Trafalgar Glacier. So named by the

New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) was a research programme that operated a permanent research facility in Antarctica from 1959 to 1996. It was created by the Geophysics Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Indu ...

(NZARP) geological party led by M.G. Laird, 1981-82, from the unusually soft snow encountered in the pass.

Mount Hancox

. A prominent mountain high about southeast of

Mount Burton Barker Range () is a mountain range trending northwest–southeast and including Jato Nunatak, Mount Watt, Mount McCarthy, and Mount Burton, located at the southwest side of the Millen Range in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, Antarctica. ...

, rising above the north margin of Malta Plateau. Named by the Mariner Glacier geology party of NZGSAE, 1966-67, for G.T. Hancox, senior geologist with the party in this area.

Mount Finch

. A mountain high standing at the west side of the mouth of Trainer Glacier where the latter enters Trafalgar Glacier. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by US-ACAN for Lieutenant Jerry L. Finch, United States Navy, Squadron VX-6 project officer for infrared ice sounding equipment and an aircraft commander in Operation Deep Freeze, 1968.

Eastern features

Collins Peak

. A small but noteworthy peak high at the east side of Malta Plateau, on the end of the ridge overlooking the confluence of the Hand and Line Glaciers. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by US-ACAN for Eric J. Collins, biologist at Hallett Station, 1965-66.

Mount Burrill

. A mountain high on the east edge of Malta Plateau, situated south of Mount Hussey at the head of Hand Glacier. Named by the

(NZ-APC) for Doctor Meredith F. Burrill, Executive Secretary of the United States Board on Geographic Names, 1943-73. His leadership in the development of Antarctic names policy and principles has been instrumental in establishing greater international uniformity in the geographic nomenclature of the continent.

Mount Hussey

. A mountain high rising from the spur at the head of Gruendler Glacier. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by US-ACAN for Keith M. Hussey, geologist at McMurdo Station, 1966-67.

Southern features

Mount Philipps

. The culminating summit high in the south part of the ice-covered Malta Plateau. Discovered in January 1841 by Sir

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of both the northern and southern polar regions. In the Arctic, he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, Sir John Ross, John ...

who named it for Professor John Phillips, assistant secretary of the British Association.

Cuneiform Cliffs

. Steep, irregular cliffs at the south end of Malta Plateau, along the north side of the lower Mariner Glacier. The name applied by NZ-APC in 1966 is descriptive of wedgelike spurs that project from the face of the cliffs.

Mount Alberts

. A pointed, almost completely snow-covered mountain high situated east of Mount Phillips on the east margin of Malta Plateau. The mountain stands immediately south of the terminus of Line Glacier and overlooks the west margin of Ross Sea. Named by the

New Zealand Geographic Board The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) is the authority over geographical and hydrographic names within New Zealand and its territorial waters. This includes the naming of small urban settlements, localities, mounta ...

in 1966 after Fred G. Alberts, Geographer, United States Department of the Interior (later with the Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center), who served as Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, United States Board on Geographic Names, 1949-80, and was compiler and editor of this Gazetteer.

Tur Peak

. A distinctive peak high at the southeast periphery of Malta Plateau, situated along the north wall of lower Mariner Glacier south-southeast of Mount Alberts. Mapped by USGS from surveys and United States Navy air photos, 1960-64. Named by US-ACAN for Lieutenant Juan J. Tur, United States Navy Reserve, medical officer at Hallett Station, 1957.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Include-USGov , agency=United States Geological Survey Plateaus of Antarctica Landforms of Victoria Land Borchgrevink Coast Volcanoes of Victoria Land