| Wright Valley | |
|---|---|
 View west towardsLake Vanda and Dais from the foot of Bull Pass. | |
  Wright Valley | |
| Geography | |
| Population centers | Vanda Station |
| Rivers | Onyx River |
TheWright Valley (77°31′S161°50′E / 77.517°S 161.833°E /-77.517; 161.833 (Wright Valley)) is a large east–west trending valley, formerly occupied by a glacier but now ice free except forWright Upper Glacier at its head andWright Lower Glacier at its mouth, inVictoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the VUWAE (1958-59) forSir Charles Wright, for whom the BrAE (1910-13) named the glacier at the mouth of this valley.[1]
The Wright Valley is the central one of the three largeMcMurdo Dry Valleys in theTransantarctic Mountains, located west ofMcMurdo Sound. Wright Valley contains theOnyx River, the longest river inAntarctica, Lake Brownworth, the origin of the Onyx River, andLake Vanda, which is fed by the Onyx River. Its southwestern branch,South Fork, is the location ofDon Juan Pond. The upland area known as theLabyrinth is at the valley's west end.
Although portions of the interconnected valley system were discovered in 1903 by theDiscovery expedition led byCaptain Robert Falcon Scott, the Wright Valley located near the centre of the system was not seen until aerial photographs of the region were made in 1947.[2]By the mid-1960s scientists were becoming increasingly intrigued by the paradoxical fact that the valley lay immediately adjacent to the permanentEast Antarctic Ice Sheet, yet had remained ice-free for at least thousands of years.[3] Although Lake Vanda is covered by roughly 3 metres (9.8 ft) of ice year-round, lake temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F) had been reliably measured at a depth of 65 metres (213 ft).[4]
Increasing summer field activity and a clear need to establish a winter record led New Zealand's Antarctic Division and theNational Science Foundation of the United States to plan a more permanent base in the valley. In 1968 New Zealand establishedVanda Station near the eastern end of Lake Vanda.
The Wright Valley is one of theMcMurdo Dry Valleys.[5]It runs fromWright Upper Glacier in the west toWright Lower Glacier to the east.It separates theOlympus Range to the north from theAsgard Range to the south.[6][7]
Features of the valley, from west to east, include the Labyrinth, Don Juan Pond, Dais, North Fork, South Fork, Lake Vanda, Lake Canopus, Onyx River and Lake Brownsworth.[6][7]
77°33′S160°50′E / 77.550°S 160.833°E /-77.550; 160.833. An extensive flat upland area which has been deeply eroded at the west end of Wright Valley, in Victoria Land. So named by the VUWAE (1958-59) because the eroded dolerite of which it is formed gives an appearance of a labyrinth.[8]
77°30′S160°50′E / 77.500°S 160.833°E /-77.500; 160.833. A pass, or saddle, at about 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) betweenApollo Peak andMount Electra in the Olympus Range, Victoria Land. The pass permits walking access to Wright Valley from McKelvey Valley. Named by the NZ-APC in 1984 after the Minotaur, in association with names from Greek mythology in the Olympus Range.[9]
77°33′S161°03′E / 77.550°S 161.050°E /-77.550; 161.050. An ice-free col at 600 metres (2,000 ft), connecting the east edge of the Labyrinth and the west edge of the Dais, in Wright Valley, Victoria Land. Named by US-ACAN (1997) in association with the Dais.https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=124047
77°33′S161°16′E / 77.550°S 161.267°E /-77.550; 161.267. An elongated mesa between Labyrinth and Lake Vanda in the western part of Wright Valley, in Victoria Land. Descriptively named by the VUWAE, 1958-59.[10]
77°34′S161°11′E / 77.567°S 161.183°E /-77.567; 161.183. A shallow saline pond located south of the Dais in the South Fork of Wright Valley, Victoria Land. The pond was sighted on October 11, 1961 in a field reconnaissance byUnited States Navy helicopter. In the next three months, a USARP party with George H. Meyer and others made several trips to study the pond. They named it Don Juan Pond for Lieutenants Donald Roe and John Hickey, United States Navy Air Development Squadron Six, who were of assistance to the field party. A new mineral, calcium chloride hexahydrate, was discovered in the pond. The name Antarcticite was proposed for the new mineral.[11]
77°32′S161°15′E / 77.533°S 161.250°E /-77.533; 161.250. The northern arm of Wright Valley in Victoria Land. The feature is separated from the South Fork by the Dais. Named by the VUWAE, 1958-59.[12]
77°34′S161°15′E / 77.567°S 161.250°E /-77.567; 161.250. The southern arm of Wright Valley in Victoria Land. The feature is separated from the North Fork by the Dais. Named by the VUWAE, 1958-59.[13]
77°32′S161°33′E / 77.533°S 161.550°E /-77.533; 161.550. Lake, 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) long, just east of the Dais in Wright Valley, Victoria Land. Named by the VUWAE (1958-59) after a dog used by C. Bull, leader of this party, in the British North Greenland Expedition.[14]
77°32′S161°42′E / 77.533°S 161.700°E /-77.533; 161.700. Small lake 0.5 nautical miles (0.93 km; 0.58 mi) east of Lake Vanda. The name appears to have been applied in the 1960's probably in association with nearby Bull Pass, or for physicist Colin Bull, for whom the pass is named.[15]
77°33′S161°31′E / 77.550°S 161.517°E /-77.550; 161.517. A small lake 65 metres (213 ft) above the southern shore of Lake Vanda. Named by the Eighth VUWAE, 1963-64, after Canopus, pilot of Menelaus, the king of Sparta.[16]
77°32′S161°45′E / 77.533°S 161.750°E /-77.533; 161.750. A meltwater stream which flows westward through the Wright Valley from Wright Lower Glacier to Lake Vanda. Mapped and named by the VUWAE, 1958-59.[17]
77°28′S161°42′E / 77.467°S 161.700°E /-77.467; 161.700. A low pass through the Olympus Range, betweenMount Jason andMount Orestes, joining theMcKelvey Valley and the Wright Valley. It was named by the VUWAE (1958-59) for C. Bull, who led this expedition.[15]
77°26′S162°45′E / 77.433°S 162.750°E /-77.433; 162.750. A meltwater lake immediately west of Wright Lower Glacier at the east end of Wright Valley. The lake was mapped by USGS from surveys and air photos obtained in 1956-60. Named by US-ACAN for Frederick S. Brownworth, USGS topographic engineer who worked several seasons in Antarctica. In 1970-71 he supervised aerial photography of the dry valleys of Victoria Land, including this lake.[18]
Tributary valleys and hanging glaciers entering from the Asgard Range, from west to east, include Donner Valley, Sykes Glacier, Odin Valley, Heimdall Glacier, Bartley Glacier, Meserve Glacier, Hart Glacier, Goodspeed Glacier and Denton Glacier.
77°37′S161°27′E / 77.617°S 161.450°E /-77.617; 161.450. A small, mainly ice-free valley located north-northeast ofMount Thundergut in the Asgard Range. Named by the NZ-APC, presumably in association with nearby Mount Thundergut, "donner" being a German word for "thunder."[11]
77°35′S161°32′E / 77.583°S 161.533°E /-77.583; 161.533. A north-flowing glacier located just east ofPlane Table in the Asgard Range. Named by NZ-APC for N.Z. film director Jeremy Sykes who perished in a helicopter accident at nearby Mount McLennan, Nov. 19, 1969.[19]
77°35′S161°50′E / 77.583°S 161.833°E /-77.583; 161.833. A small glacier just east ofSiegfried Peak andSiegmund Peak on the south side of Wright Valley. The name, given by NZ-APC, is one in a group derived from Norse mythology, Heimdall being the warden of Asgard.[20]
77°34′S161°58′E / 77.567°S 161.967°E /-77.567; 161.967. A small glacier in the Asgard Range located betweenMount Valhalla and Conrow Glacier. It flows part way down the north wall of the range toward Wright Valley. Named by US-ACAN and NZ-APC in consultation.[21]
77°34′S162°07′E / 77.567°S 162.117°E /-77.567; 162.117. A small glacier, next westward of Bartley Glacier, that drains north from Asgard Range partway down the south wall of Wright Valley. Named by Roy E. Cameron, leader of a USARP biological party to the area in 1966-67, for Howard P. Conrow, a member of that party.[22]
77°32′S162°13′E / 77.533°S 162.217°E /-77.533; 162.217. A hanging glacier on the south wall of Wright Valley, just west of Meserve Glacier. Named by US-ACAN for construction driver Ollie Barrett Bartley, United States Navy, who was killed on January 14, 1957, when the vehicle (weasel) he was driving dropped through the sea ice at Hut Point, McMurdo Sound.[23]
77°31′S162°17′E / 77.517°S 162.283°E /-77.517; 162.283. A hanging glacier on the south wall of Wright Valley, between the Bartley and Hart Glaciers. Named by United States geologist Robert Nichols for William Meserve, geological assistant to Nichols at nearby Marble Point in the 1959-60 field season.[24]
77°30′S162°23′E / 77.500°S 162.383°E /-77.500; 162.383. A small hanging glacier on the south wall of Wright Valley, between the Meserve and Goodspeed Glaciers.Named by United States geologist Robert Nichols for Roger Hart, geological assistant to Nichols at nearby Marble Point in the 1959-60 field season.[25]
77°29′S162°27′E / 77.483°S 162.450°E /-77.483; 162.450. A small hanging glacier on the south wall of Wright Valley, between the Hart and Denton Glaciers. Named by United States geologist Robert Nichols after Robert Goodspeed, geological assistant to Nichols at nearbyMarble Point in the 1959-60 field season.[26]
77°29′S162°36′E / 77.483°S 162.600°E /-77.483; 162.600. A small hanging glacier which drains the northwest slopes ofMount Newall and terminates on the south wall of Wright Valley. Named by United States geologist Robert Nichols for George Denton, geological assistant to Nichols at nearby Marble Point in the 1958-59 field season.[27]
77°29′05″S162°34′19″E / 77.484849°S 162.571882°E /-77.484849; 162.571882. A pond, 0.25 nautical miles (0.46 km; 0.29 mi) long, betweenMount Loke and the west side of Denton Glacier. Named by theNew Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) (1998) after a New Zealand water bird.[28]
77°28′00″S162°40′00″E / 77.466667°S 162.666667°E /-77.466667; 162.666667. A prominent cirque, 1.9 nautical miles (3.5 km; 2.2 mi) northwest ofMount Newall, Asgard Range, which occupies the south wall of Wright Valley between Denton Glacier and Nichols Range. The cirque is 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) wide and its floor, 850 metres (2,790 ft) elevation, is nearly ice free. Named byAdvisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) (1997) after Craig J. Martin , who had 10 years involvement in Antarctic construction and engineering projects at Siple, South Pole, and McMurdo Stations and various field camps in McMurdo Dry Valleys from 1977; from 1989, Director, Engineering, Antarctic Support Associates (ASA), with responsibility for the management of engineering, construction, and facilities maintenance efforts that directly support United States scientific research in Antarctica.[29]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Board on Geographic Names.
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{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Geological Survey.