The Queen Alexandra Range () is a major mountain range about long, bordering the entire western side of

Beardmore Glacier The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being long and having a width of . It descends about from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen ...

from the

Polar Plateau The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica that extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This ...

to 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 high ...

. The range is in the

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

System, and is located in the

Ross Dependency The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a circular sector, sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160th meridian east, 160° east to 150th meridian west, 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60th para ...

region of

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

Discovery

The Queen Alexandra Range was discovered on the journey toward the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09 (BrAE), and was named by

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...

for

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...

, Queen of the United Kingdom, 1901-10. Shackleton and his men, and a later expedition headed by

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova Expedition ...

, both collected rock samples from the range that contained

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s. The discovery that multicellular life forms had lived so close to the South Pole was an additional piece of evidence that accompanied the publication (in 1910 and independently in 1912) of the theory of

continental drift Continental drift is a highly supported scientific theory, originating in the early 20th century, that Earth's continents move or drift relative to each other over geologic time. The theory of continental drift has since been validated and inc ...

Location

The Queen Alexandra Range is bounded by the Beardmore Glacier along its southeast edge, which divides it from the Commonwealth Range of the

Queen Maud Mountains The Queen Maud Mountains () are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore Glacier, Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Sh ...

to the east. The west of the range is bounded by the

Antarctic Plateau The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica that extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. Thi ...

in the south. Further north it is bounded by the Walcott Névé to the east, which separates the range from the

Colbert Hills Colbert Hills Golf Course is a public golf course located in Manhattan, Kansas. Utilizing the natural ecosystem of the surrounding Flint Hills, it is a Links (golf), links-style course with few trees. From its opening to 2011 Colbert Hills was ...

. The Walcott Névé joins the Law Glacier in the Bowden Névé which feeds the Lennox-King Glacier. This glacier bounds the northwest part of the range, and separates it from the Holland Range to the north. The northern tip of the range extends to the

between the Lennox King Glaciers and Beardmore Glacier.

Major glaciers

() is of the largest known valley glaciers, over long, descending the polar plateau and flowing north between the Queen Alexandra Range and Commonwealth Range, to enter the Ross Ice Shelf. * Law Glacier () is a glacier about wide between the south end of the Queen Elizabeth Range and the MacAlpine Hills, gradually descending east-northeast from the polar plateau to Bowden Névé. * Bowden Névé is a

névé Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow can contribute to glacier formation through the process of ''nivation''. Névé that survives a ...

about wide, lying southward of Mount Miller between Queen Elizabeth Range and Queen Alexandra Range. * Walcott Névé is a névé, about in area, bounded by the Marshall Mountains, Lewis Cliff and Mount Sirius. * Lennox-King Glacier () is a large valley glacier, about long, draining Bowden Névé and flowing northeast between the Holland Range and Queen Alexandra Ranges to enter Richards Inlet, Ross Ice Shelf.

Mountains and peaks

Mountains and peaks over high include:

Features

Major features that are the focus of a named or unnamed group of lesser features, include: * Morris Heights (), a relatively smooth ice-covered heights, forming a peninsula-like divide between Beaver Glacier and King Glacier at the north end of the Queen Alexandra Range. * Mount Elizabeth (), a massive ice-free mountain, high, standing south of Mount Anne. * Mount Mackellar (), a massive mountain, high, standing at the head of Mackellar Glacier, south of Pagoda Peak. * Grindley Plateau (), a high icecapped plateau in the central Queen Alexandra Range, bordered by the peaks of Mount Mackellar, Mount Bell and

Mount Kirkpatrick Mount Kirkpatrick () is a lofty, generally ice-free mountain in Queen Alexandra Range west of Mount Dickerson. At it is the highest point in the Queen Alexandra Range, Antarctica. Exploration and name Mount Kirkpatrick was discovered and na ...

. * The Cloudmaker (), a massive mountain, high, standing at the west side of

, just south of Hewson Glacier. It is easily identifiable by its high, ice-free slope facing Beardmore Glacier. *

(), a lofty, generally ice-free mountain in Queen Alexandra Range west of Mount Dickerson. At it is the highest point in the Queen Alexandra Range. * Adams Mountains (), a small but well defined group of mountains bounded by the

Berwick Glacier The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being long and having a width of . It descends about from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Queen ...

, Moody Glacier and Bingley Glacier. * Mount Falla (), a prominent conical mountain, high, standing northeast of Mount Stonehouse, between

and Prebble Glacier. * Marshall Mountains (), a group of mountains overlooking

. They are bounded on the north by

, and on the south by Swinford Glacier.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Ross Dependency Transantarctic Mountains Shackleton Coast