GRAHAM LAND EXPEDITION

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22196, 13 September 1937, Page 8

GRAHAM LAND EXPEDITION

SURVEY OF WORK OF DISCQVERY VALUABLE INFORMATION ACQUIRED 1000 -MILES OF COAST IiNE CHARTED

I TROU OUK OWH COKRESI'ONDBHT.) LONDON, August 12. The British Graham Land Expedition, which has been- working in Western Antarctica, a distant and little known part of the Empire, brought home results important for geographer and scientist. The most significant geographical discoveries were that Graham Land, previously thought to consist of a number of large islands, is a peninsula of the Antarctic continent, and that Alexander the First Land, formerly mapped as a small island west of South Graham Land, is a large land mass extending some 250 miles from north to south. The expedition surveyed 1000 miles of coast line, and throughout this region carried out geological and biological researches. For more than two years meteorological observations were made: and a number of anchorages have been discovered and charted. The expedition, numbering only lo men, was the first British national entei'prise to have wintered in An artica during the last 20 years. Initial Problems j The unknown land which a polar expedition sets out to explore is well guarded by Nature in her most impressive mood. To force an entry two things are particularly desirable; urst, the discovery of feasible routes by which the frontiers that separate the charted coasts from the unknown land beyond may be crossed, and, second, a knowledge of local c ° n difi° ns - . Th" Brit sh Graham Land Expedition realised that they would have to learn the conditions for themselves and be prepared for setbacks on that account, but, as existing maps indicated practicable routes both towards Luitpold Land and Charcot Land, they had grounds for believing that it would be far easier to attain their object than actually proved to be the case. They found that both their prospective routes were blocked by mountains rising 6000 to 8000 feet in height The accurate maps which the expedition has now brought home clearly show practicable ways of entering the region beyond that which they themselves cxolored, and this will enable future work in the dependency to be based on more secure foundations. As to the second point, the vague t-’rm “local conditions” covers such diverse subjects as information on harbours, the time of year a ship can cruise along the coast, the possibilities of flying, the seasons best suitec for sledging, and the all-importani condition and duration of sea ice along different sections of the coast. On an these points the expedition, during its three summer and two winter seasons in Graham Lend, has had opportunities to collect detailed information hitherto unknown. In short, a new territory has been opened up, and since the region still seems to' be the only gateway to the immense tracts of unexplored territory lying behind the Weddell and Bellinghausen seas, this is not the least important feature of the expedition’s results.

Outstanding Discoveries The actual additions and chaoges to the map have been considerable, for 1000 miles of coastline and much ot the interior have been mapped by a trigonometrical ground survey supplemented by aerial photographs. But the geographical and scientific results are more significant than such additions alone might suggest. Three outstanding geographical discoveries have been made. In the first place, Graham Land is not formed of a number of islands, but is a peninsula of the Antarctic Continent, with which it merges just south of latitude 72 degrees south. In the south this peninsula is wider than was previously supposed, and the interior of the country is everywhere high. Second is the discovery that what had previously been known of Alexander I Land is but the northern part of a much more immense land mass, which is probably a large island. The third, and in some respects the most remarkable discovery, is the narrow strait which separates Graham Land from Alexander 1 Land. Two-thirds as long as the English Channel, this strait averages only 15 miles in width, and is bordered on either hand by steeply rising mountains of wholly dissimilar appearance and geological structure. The strait is filled by the only large sheet of constricted shelf ice known to man. Tho ice structures formed by the flow of this shelf ice and by the thrust of large glaciers entering on either side have produced a unique display of ice forms, such as deep rifts, collapsed ice domes, and crescentic pressure ridges like frozen waves. The scientific results are too technical to be described in detail, and much work remains to be done on the material which has been collected, but several points are of some general interest.

The geological work covered a wide area, but of all the specimens which have been brought back a few Mesozoic fossils found in Alexander I Land, fragmentary though they may be. come first in importance. In South Graham Land the rocks were found to be of the same general nature as those farther north, and the name Antarctic Andes, which had previously been suggested for North Graham Land, is appropriate for the southern part of ■Jne peninsula as well. In more recent times there is a positive evidence of a former more widespread extension of the glaciers, and t)erhans only 400 years ago shelf ice filled the bays and surrounded the islands off the West Graham Land coast A few relics of this old shelf ice have i persisted to the present day, but are now fast breaking away, The climate thus seems to be becoming rapidly j milder. At the Argentine Islands, where the expedition had its first ! year's base, there were never long oeriods of cold weather, and the sea remained frozen for only about six weeks. The second vear's base was more than 200 miles farther south, and there the climate was more severe. The sf>a ice remained firm for nearly eight months of the year, and often for a week at a time""-there would be intense cold with scarcely a breath of wind from cloudless ski'-s Bird and plant life were naturally more plentiful at the Argentine Islands, where the weather was so much milder. A number of birds nest on the islands, and in winter migrate to the north. The Wilsons petrels, no larger than sparrows, fly to the North Atlantic for the northern summer. For months on end they never approach land, and yet year after year they find their way back again to the same mates and the same burrows on these remote Antarctic islands. Tfce different species of penguins. ' inquisitive, foolhardy, and quaintly

dignified, are the most fascinating birds of the south, and there were opportunities to study their social life in many different rookeries. For this purpose individual birds were distinguished by marking them with coloured dyes. Fortunately there was one small colony of Adelie penguins nesting only 10 miles south of the southern base. The birds had to walk at least 50 miles over the ice at the end of November to reach their rookery, and they supplied the shore party with mote than 1200 large and delicious eggs. The necessity for killing some 550 seals during the course of the expedition for man and dog food provided plenty of material for biological research. An intensive study was made of the life histories, rates of reproduction, and population problems of the Weddell and Crabeater seals, and some information was also obtained on the large and fierce sea leopards, of which only a few were killed. The seals begin to breed at the early age of two years, and reach their maximum size in their sixth year. The skins of the adults are of little commercial value, but a few skins of Weddell pups, which are born on the sea ice in spring, have been brought to England for examination. Plant life on the West Graham Land coast was found to be confined to a lew species of mosses and lichens and one small flowering rock plant, but in places these formed a quite extensive carpet of vegetation, and in the summer the vivid patches of yellow. red. and green lichens were an unforgettable delight.