Spath Peninsula () is an ice-free

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

, , forming the northeast extremity of

Snow Hill Island Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, long and wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound and from Seymour Island to the north by ...

. Historic Nordenskjold's Hut, Antarctic Historic Site #28, is located on the west coast of the peninsula. The Karlsen Cliffs form the peninsula's northwest coast. Wickens Gully, a water-cut ravine, cuts into clay-rich rocks on the peninsula's east side. The peninsula has several distinct hills on it. Thyasira Hill is a distinctive hill within a group of smaller hills rising to about tall, south of Nordenskjold's Hut. Tesore Hill rises about high on the east side of the peninsula.

Naming

The peninsula and its features were named by the

United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

(UK-APC) in 1995. The peninsula was named for

Leonard Frank Spath Leonard Frank Spath FRS (20 October 1882 – 2 March 1957) was a British geologist specialising in malacology and ammonitology. Spath Creek on Ellesmere Island is named after him, and indirectly the Spathian substage of the Early Triassic ...

(1882–1957), eminent UK

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

. The cliffs and gully were named for Anders Karlsen, First Engineer on the

Swedish Antarctic Expedition The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Background Otto Nordensk ...

, 1901–04 and Professor Otto Wilckens, eminent German paleontologist, respectively. Thyasira Hill was named because of the abundance of the fossil bivalve mollusk '' Thyasira townsendi'' found in this area. Tesore Hill is the English translation of the original

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

name "Cerro Tesore".

References

Peninsulas of Graham Land Landforms of the James Ross Island group {{GrahamLand-geo-stub