PROBLEMS OF SOUTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 285, 2 December 1933, Page 10

PROBLEMS OF SOUTH

FACING ADMIRAL BYRD AIMS OF THE EXPEDITION South of the Pacific Ocean are some 1500 miles of the Antarctic Continent that have never been sighted. Their position can only bo guessed, writes R. N. Rudmose Brown in the Manchester Guardian. In the east this missing coastline 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 1902). 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 tho Ross lee 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 Ross 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 tho 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 Laud, and farther south, along the eastern side, Amundsen from a far-distant 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. Byrd in 1929 failed to find any trace of Carmen Land or other land on the eastern side of the Ross Sea, while his extension of the Queen Maud Ranges suggests that tho plateau edge emerges on tho Atlantic side of tho Weddell Sea and is perhaps continuous with those ranges seen dimly by tho 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 Garrier 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 band of large and small islands of a totally different structure from the Antarctic plateau. Tho plateau is an ancientt area of more or less horizontal strata: the Graham Land Islands and possibly Hearst Land are partially 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 tho 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; Mario Byrd Land is structurally unknown, as it has been seen only from the air. On the Weddell Sea side lies one ol’ tho most congested and dangerous areas of ice in the whole. Antarctit. Bruce, Filchner, and Shackleton have each tried in vain to penetrate that sea. On tho Russ Sea side Ross, Scott and others have failed to push their ships eastward. Now with new methods at his disposal Byrd is sailing from Boston for the Ross Sea in his second Antarctic expedition. The New Expedition. The actual base presumably will bo at the Bay of Whales in the Boss Sea, where Byrd will be able tu dig uut trom the accumulated snow his settlement of Little America of three years ago. There some forty members of the expedition, many of whom served previously, will bo lauded with stores, JSU dogs, motor-tractors, and un aeroplane. No man has been more successful in Polar flying than Byrd, and ho intends in several long-distance flights to penetrate this unexplored sector. Distances are great, but fuel depots can be laid out over tho barrier. A flight towards the Weddell JSca would be invaluable, but it would be twi'ce as Jung as his flight to the Pole and buck 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 Laud suggested useful sledge routes and ureas of rock exposure. These will bo examined where possible in an attempt to solve the structural as well as tho topographical problems. It is suggested that another flight tu the Pole jnay be tried. Along a new route this might prove important, for every route means 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 tho Antarctic cummer and after sending back its ship will remain ashore until the summer of 1931.