GLACIER SECRETS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1929, Page 2

GLACIER SECRETS

ANIMALS THAT ROAMED ANTARCTIC.

BYRD’S EXPEDITION’S WORK

SOLVING WORLD’S OLDEST MYSTERY.

LITTLE AMERICA, October 1

The scientific work of the geological party should be one of the most important results of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, if there is sufficient time to make a careful survey of the Queen Maud Range adjacent to the Axel Heiberg Glacier, and also to determine the connexion betAveeir that range Jtml land masses Avhich are believed to lie to the north and east.

It is one of the crucial areas of the Antarctic to the geologist. The detailed field studies, combined with the geograhpieal knoAvledge Avhich should be obtained during Commander Byrd’s Polar flight and his flights to the eastAvard, should give a good knoAvledge of this part of the Continent. The great question in this section of Antarctica are Avhether the continent is one land mass or Avhether it is divided someAvhere east of the Queen Maud Range, Avhether the land masses of Carmen Land connect with the land seen to the east by Amundsen betAveen them and the high peaks of Marie Byrd Land, seen last year by all Avho Avent to the Rockfeiler Mountains. Only the aeroplane can penetrate to some of i these far-eastern points this season. The, geological party will concentrate its attention on thei Queen Maud Range and such , other land as’ it is able to reach. ■ ' •

The first pdint to be examined by the geological party under Dr, Gould wi ll be Mount Nansen, avAlcJi torvers 15,C(X) feet above the Barrier, the highest point of that rocky rampart Avhich separates The Polar plateau from the Bar-

THe sides of Mount Nansen are apparently largely exposed, and therefore afford the best field for investigation to the geologist, Avho in Antarctica so often is checked by a deep layer of ice or siioav.

If mountain structures' there are f)und such as characterise the high- 1 lands to the north-Avest,- they may indicate that the entire Barrier basin was Ibrmed by a fault which depressed'this enormous' area' beneath’ the level oi ;

seft, and permitted ice to form! 1 • 'lt is not 1 ‘known either 'Whether the Queen Maud -Range (is a. ! continuation of' the; ranges from 1 South Victoria’ Land and constintes with them a' definite mountain chain running across' the 1 entire' ’ continent - ’Geologically it will'be possible to determine the relationship between the tAvo great areas, and on the aeroplane flights much more of the Queen Maud Range . than Amundsen suav from the plateau surface should be traced by Commander Byrd from the elevation at which he will flv, ... ~„v

HOPES TO FIND PREGLACIAL ; i FOSSILS. , > , ■: -.

Dr', Gould also hopes* to find-in'the mountains some fossils -.-which may throw more light on the pre-glacial history of this pjrtion of .Antarctica,' ' ; ' It is known from coal beds and fossils''already. found- in -other areas or Antarctica that there Avas.a~.time when an ’extensive vegetation ’ flofirished in this nOAv ice-covered land,- ;» :• ’

1 But there is a -singular absence of land vertebrates, Avhicn Avould indicate that the isolation of the continent by the surrounding ocean depths is not recent in geological time. A feAv fossils which would fill in some of the gaps in the past history of Antarctica would in theniselves well repay all the difficulties of the inland journey.

From the moraines at the bottom of glaciers which may be reached by tne geological party may also be obtained many valuable specimens. In (ordinary climates such . gathering places of drift rocks to not enter largely into the work of the geologist, but in Antarctica,, where, he much turn everything which .comes his way to account, such fragments of rock may be invaluable.

Much ,of : the information already obtained of, Antarctica geology has,been, gathered in moraines or from the bottom of the sea on the continental shelf, for only too often the . secrets of this land are sealed by this greatest remnant of the glacial age. As much of this geological work will be done and as extensive journeys into the surrounding mountain territory undertaken as time will permit, for what is done must be done in three months, and in that time a sledge journey undertaken from the base of the Queen Maud Range and return, and every sledge journey to the side, will add greatly to the distance to lie covered.

It is not at all improbable that the geological party in its explorations will have covered more than 1200 and possibly as much as 1500 miles before returning to Little America. Mapping and surveying so that a more accurate knowledge of the position of the various mountain ranges and indicatons of land along the trail may be had, will be carried out whenever the weather permits. There will probably always be two parties of men in the field, three at work on surveys and mapping, while three others do the necessary geological and glaciological work. The inland party will also co-operate with the flight party, so that before flights some knowledge of weather conditions in the interior may he sent hack to the base, and while the flight is in progress the geological party will stand by to go to the ass’stance of those in the aeroplane in

the CA’-ent of a* forced landing. Various plans for meeting have been worked out.

So it can be seen that the duties of the geological party call for intense actmtiy during tlic tiinw tlicir disposal, and their Avork Avill also be controlled to a large extent by weather conditions which are often had near the mountains. In fact, evervthong down there depends on weather, for though men can travel i* blizzards, Avlien necessary, they cannot do scientific work. And, therefore, the time factor becomes important. But, as has been said, it is hoped that the geological and geo grab pica) Avor.k of those who fly and those avlio climb among the little-knoAvn mountains of the Queen Maud Range will result in the collecti n of data oil this region Avhich will form one of the most important results of the expedition.