PROBLEMS OF SOUTH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22125, 1 December 1933, Page 6

PROBLEMS OF SOUTH

FACING ADMIRAL BYRD y . ■ AIMS OF EXPEDITION. ' South of the Pacific Ocean are some 1500 miles of the Antarctic Continent that have never been sighted. Their position can only be guessed, writes R. N. Rudmose Brown in the Manchester Guardian. In the east this missing coast line abuts on the outlying islands of' Graham Land, which were discovered by Charcot in/1909, and Hearst Land, sighted by Wilkins in 1928. To the west lies Marie Byrd Land, an extension of Edward Land (which Scott discovered in 1002). On his last expedition to the Antarctic in 1929 Admiral Byrd discovered Marie": Byrd Land in a flight from his base at the Bay of Whales on the Ross, Ice Barrier. A further discovery of that expedition, on the south of the barrier, was the extension of Amundsen’s Queen Maud Ranges to the south-east and the apparent absence of .any land’ on the -eastern side of the barrier. , . , Up to- that time it has been believed, largely as the result of Amundsen’s and Scott’s exploration, - that the Rost' Sea was a -landlocked bight of the Southern Ocean, with its ' surface permanently covered with ice derived partly from the overflow of the surrounding ice-sheet of the Antarctic plateau and! partly" from congealed layers of’fallen snow. Along its northern: side, where the Bay. of Whales is situated, this ice-covered sea ends in a cliff of 10 to 100 feet in height. On its west and south is .the lofty edge of the plateau through Which valley glaciers pass.; On its north-east is Edward Land, and farther south, along .the eastern' side, Amundsen from a.far-distattfc view reported Carmen Land. It was, therefore, believed until recently that this unknown Pacific sector of the Antarctic was a continuation of the great plateau that extends from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans across the Pole. STRUCTURAL MYSTERY,

Now this theory is shaken. Pvrd in 1929 failed to find any trace of Uarmon Land or other land on the eastern side of the Ross Sea, while his extension of the Queen Maud Ranges suggests that the plateau edge emerges oh the Atlantic side in the Weddell Sea and is,, perhaps, contiguous with those; - ranges seen dimly by the Scotia expedition in 1903 in the interior of Coats Land. If that is true, the Ross Barrier may prove to be only one end of a broad strait that extends across to the Atlantic, with the low Wilhelm Barrier in the south of the Weddell Sea for its other end. If that is the case, the lands lying on the Pacific side of this strait consist of a bund of largo and small islands of a totally different Structure from the Antarctic plateau. The plateau is an ancient area of more or less horizontal strata; the Graham Land Islands and possibly Hearst Land are partically submerged relics of folded mountain chains of Tertiary age,' entirely comparable with the folded ranges of the (Andes. The structural divergence of the opposite sides of the Antarctic Continent has long been known, but in the lack of knowledge of the interior and even of many parts of the coastline it has so far been impossible to say where these;two formations of widely different origins met. Edward Land probably belongs to the Pacific structure; Marie Byrd Laud is structurally unknown, as it has been' seen only from the air. On the Weddell Sea side lies one of the most congested and dangerous areas of ice in the whole Antarctic. Bruce, Filchner, and Shackleton have each tried in vain to penetrate that sea. On the Ross' Sea side Ross. Scott, - and others have failed to push their ships eastward. Now with new methods- at his disposal Byrd has sailed from Boston for the Ross Sea in his second Antarctic expedition. . THE NEW EXPEDITION.

The actual base presumably will be at the Bay of Whales in the Rosa Sea, where Byrd will be able to dip: out from the accumulated snow his settlement of Little America of three years ago. There some 40 members of the expedition, many of whom served previously, will be landed with stores, 150 doga, motor tractors, and an aeroplane. No man has been more successful in Polar flying than Byrd, mid he intends in several long-distance flights to penetrate this unexplored sector. Distances are great, but fuel depots can be laid out over the barrier. A flight towards the Weddell Sea would be invaluable, but it would be twice as long as bis flight to the Pole and back in 1929. The number of dogs, not to speak of the motor tractors, ensures that ground work on a large scale is contemplated. That is essential if an expedition is to justify itself in scientific results. The flights which led to the discovery of Marie Byrd Land suggested useful sledge routes and areas of rock exposure. These will be examined where possible in an attempt to solve the structural as well as tee topographical problems. It is suggested that another flight to the Pole may be tried.: Along a new route this might prove important, for every route mpans a track through the unknown. Another matter of great interest on which light may be obtained is the thickness of the Ross Barrier and a determination at the areas where it is actually aground., It > is expected that the expedition will reach its base early in the Antarctic summer, and after sending back its ship will remain ashore until the summer or 1934.