Abstract
SOME of the more important discoveries made by Admiral R. E. Byrd's American Antarctic Expedition of 1934-35 are indicated in sketch maps accompanying an article by Admiral Byrd in the National Geographic Magazine of October. There seems now to be no probability of a sea-strait joining the Ross and Weddell Seas, a suggestion made some years ago on slender evidence. It appears that Marie Byrd Land, which lies south-east of King Edward Land, extends in a plateau of over a thousand feet, called the Rockefeller Plateau, to the base of the Queen Maud Range, which has been extended another two hundred miles eastward. At the south-eastern end of the Ross Sea a gulf extends into this plateau to about long. 140° W. Another discovery is that the Edsel Ford ranges which lie east of the Alexandra Mountains of King Edward Land extend east and west, and suggest possible extensions of the Andean foldings of Graham Land. A third striking discovery, made by sonic soundings, is that much of the Ross Ice Barrier is aground and not afloat. South of the Bay of Whales, Admiral Byrd has tentatively marked an area of the Barrier extending between lat. 78° 40′ S. and 80° 20′ S. and long. 160° W. and 164° W. as Roosevelt Island. This he believes to be underlaid by land. Several altitudes in this area are well above the general level of the Barrier.
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Antarctic Discoveries. Nature 136, 865 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136865b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136865b0