Mount Elkins | |
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Map of Antarctica indicating location of Mount Elkins |
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Elevation | 2,300 m (7,546 ft) |
Location | |
Location | Enderby Land, Australian Antarctic Territory, East Antarctica |
Range | Napier Mountains |
Geology | |
Type | Metamorphic |
Age of rock | 2837 million years (Archaean eon) |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1960, by an ANARE survey party including Sydney L. Kirkby and Terence James Elkins from Mawson Station |
Easiest route | basic snow/ice climb |
Mount Elkins, also known as Jökelen (which means "The Glacier") is a dark, steep-sided mountain with three major peaks, the highest 2,300 metres above sea level. This peak is located in the Napier Mountains, in Enderby Land. Enderby Land is part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, in East Antarctica. The mountain was named after Terence James Elkins, ionospheric physicist with ANARE at Mawson Station in 1960.[1][2]
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Some notable geographic features in the general vicinity of Mount Elkins include Cape Batterbee (92 km to the north), the Young Nunataks (7.4 km to the south), Sortoppen Nunatak (30 km to the east), the Newman Nunataks (26 km to the west), Mount McMaster (97 km to the west), and Mount Kjerringa (57 km to the northeast). The nearest permanently inhabited place is Mawson Station, an Australian research station to the southeast. Molodyozhnaya Station, a former Soviet research station which was mothballed in 1989, is located to the southwest of Mount Elkins. There are plans to reopen Molodyozhnaya Station in 2008.
Mount Elkins is the highest peak in the Napier Mountains. It is the second highest peak in the Enderby Land Coast Ranges, behind Mount McMaster, whose summit lies at 2830 metres above sea level.[3] It is also the second highest peak in the Wilkes Land Coast Ranges, which are the parent range of the Enderby Land Coast Ranges.[4] It is the 27th highest peak in the East Antarctica Ranges, which are the parent range of the Wilkes Land Coast Ranges.[5]
Much of the East Antarctic craton was formed in the Precambrian period by a series of tectonothermal orogenic events.[6] Napier orogeny formed the cratonic nucleus approximately 4 billion years ago.[7] Mount Elkins is a classic example of Napier orogeny. Napier orogeny is characterized by high-grade metamorphism and plate tectonics. The orogenic events which resulted in the formation of the Napier Complex (including Mount Elkins) have been dated to the Archean Eon. Radiometrically dated to as old as 3.8 billion years, some of the zircons collected from the orthogneisses of the Napier Complex are among the oldest rock specimens found on Earth.[8] Billions of years of erosion and tectonic deformation have exposed the metamorphic rock core of these ancient mountains.
The oldest crustal components found to date in the Napier Complex appear to be of igneous derivation. This rock appears to have been overprinted by an ultra-high temperature metamorphic event (UHT) that occurred near the Archean-Proterozoic boundary. Using a lutetium-hafnium (Lu-Hf) method to examine garnet, orthopyroxene, sapphirine, osumilite and rutile from this UHT granulite belt, Choi et al determined an isochron age of 2.4 billion years for this metamorphic event.[8] Using SHRIMPU–Pb zircon dating methodology, Belyatsky et al determined the oldest tectonothermal event in the formation of the Napier Complex to have occurred approximately 2.8 billion years ago.[9]
Preservation of the UHT mineral assemblage in the analyzed rock suggests rapid cooling, with closure likely to have occurred for the Lu-Hf system at post-peak UHT conditions near a closure temperature of 800°C. UHT granulites appear to have evolved in a low Lu-Hf environment, probably formed when the rocks were first extracted from a mantle profoundly depleted in lithophile elements. The source materials for the magmas that formed the Napier Complex were extremely depleted relative to the chondritic uniform reservoir (CHUR). These results also suggest significant depletion of the early Archean mantle, in agreement with the early igneous differentiation of the Earth that the latest core formation models require.[8]
To date, no flora has been observed at Mount Elkins.[2]
The following species have been sighted within 1.0 degrees of Mount Elkins:[2]
Scientific Name | Authority | Common Name | Observations |
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Balaenoptera bonaerensis | Burmeister, 1867 | Antarctic Minke Whale (also known as the 'Dark-shoulder Minke Whale") | |
Fulmarus glacialoides | Smith,1840 | Southern Fulmar | |
Halecium banzare[10] | Watson, 2008 | Banzare hydroid | |
Halecium brevithecum[10] | Watson, 2008 | Brevithecate hydroid | |
Pagodroma nivea | Forster,1777 | Snow Petrel | |
Pygoscelis adeliae | Hombron and Jacquinot,1841 | Adelie Penguin | |
Thalassoica antarctica | Gmelin,1789 | Antarctic Petrel |
The summit of Mount Elkins is higher than that of any mountain in Australia—including even Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 metres), which is one of the Seven Summits. The East Antarctica Ranges, located on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, is one of the three largest mountain ranges in Antarctica (the other two being the Transantarctic Mountains and the West Antarctica Ranges). There are 29 known peaks in the East Antarctica Ranges whose summits exceed 2000 metres above sea level. These peaks are collectively referred to as the East Antarctic two-thousanders. With its summit at 2300 meters above sea level, Mount Elkins ranks 27th on this list, but because of its remoteness it has not become a popular target for peak bagging.
The Napier Mountains run northwest from Mount Elkins. To the east is a large valley formed by the Robert and Wilma Glaciers. To the northeast are the Seaton and Rippon Glaciers. All of these glaciers run into the King Edward Ice Shelf. Other notable terrain features in this area include the Beaver Glacier, located to the west of Mount King. Collectively, these terrain features significantly modify weather produced by synoptic scale systems. Dramatic changes can occur over short distances and in short time intervals.[11][12]
Place names within 1.0 degrees of Mount Elkins (Latitude 66°40.0'S Longitude 54°09.0'E)
Name | Feature | Latitude | Longitude | Distance | Bearing |
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Aagaard Islands | Island | 65°51.0'S | 53°40.0'E | 93.4 km | 346° |
Armstrong Peak | Peak | 66°24.0'S | 53°23.0'E | 45.1 km | 311° |
Bandy Nunataks | Nunatak | 66°55.0'S | 53°36.0'E | 36.8 km | 221° |
Bird Ridge | Ridge | 66°47.0'S | 55°04.0'E | 42.3 km | 108° |
Bratthø | Peak | 66°39.0'S | 54°40.0'E | 22.8 km | 086° |
Cape Batterbee | Cape | 65°51.0'S | 53°48.0'E | 92.2 km | 350° |
Conradi Peak | Peak | 66°08.0'S | 54°35.0'E | 62.4 km | 018° |
Doyle Point | Point | 65°53.0'S | 54°52.0'E | 92.8 km | 021° |
Grimsley Peaks | Peak | 66°34.0'S | 53°40.0'E | 24.1 km | 297° |
Knausen | Peak | 66°22.0'S | 53°13.0'E | 53.1 km | 308° |
Mjåkollen | Peak | 66°33.0'S | 53°28.0'E | 32.8 km | 293° |
Mount Bennett | Mountain | 66°32.0'S | 53°38.0'E | 27.2 km | 303° |
Mount Breckinridge | Mountain | 66°37.0'S | 53°41.0'E | 21.3 km | 285° |
Mount Bride | Mountain | 66°26.0'S | 53°57.0'E | 27.4 km | 341° |
Mount Gate | Mountain | 66°51.0'S | 53°18.0'E | 42.5 km | 241° |
Mount Griffiths | Mountain | 66°28.0'S | 54°01.0'E | 23.0 km | 345° |
Mount Maines | Mountain | 66°38.0'S | 53°54.0'E | 11.6 km | 288° |
Mount Pasco | Mountain | 66°59.0'S | 54°44.0'E | 43.5 km | 144° |
Mount Stadler | Mountain | 66°54.0'S | 53°14.0'E | 47.8 km | 237° |
Napier Mountains | Mountain | 66°30.0'S | 53°40.0'E | 28.3 km | 311° |
Newman Nunataks | Nunatak | 66°40.0'S | 54°45.0'E | 26.4 km | 090° |
Proclamation Island | Island | 65°51.0'S | 53°41.0'E | 93.2 km | 347° |
Rabben | Peak | 66°27.0'S | 54°07.0'E | 24.1 km | 356° |
Skarvet Nunatak | Nunatak | 66°26.0'S | 53°45.0'E | 31.4 km | 326° |
Sørtoppen Nunatak | Nunatak | 66°40.0'S | 53°28.0'E | 30.1 km | 270° |
Tippet Nunataks | Nunatak | 66°44.0'S | 53°15.0'E | 40.3 km | 259° |
Vicars Island | Island | 65°50.0'S | 54°29.0'E | 93.9 km | 009° |
Wheeler Rocks | Rock | 66°17.0'S | 55°08.0'E | 61.0 km | 046° |
Wilkinson Peaks | Peak | 66°37.0'S | 54°15.0'E | 7.1 km | 038° |
Young Nunataks | Nunatak | 66°44.0'S | 54°08.0'E | 7.4 km | 186° |
Mount Elkins was first mapped by Norwegian cartographers from aerial photographs taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition, 1936–37, and named at that time Jökelen (The Glacier). It was remapped by ANARE from aerial photographs taken from an ANARE aircraft in 1956. The Napier Mountains were first visited by an ANARE survey party from Mawson Station in 1960. The survey party was led by Syd Kirkby, and included Terence James Elkins.
"Mount Elkins". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:4431. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Mount Elkins" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).
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