GEOGRAPHIC NAMES OF ANTARCTICA 



nent part in furthering Antarctic expeditions or 

 Antarctic exploration in general, but whose names 

 had by some chance not been selected previously 

 for application to Antarctic features. These in- 

 stances of naming by the Board, however, are few 

 in relation to the number of names considered. 



In a number of cases it has not been possible, 

 with data collected from all available sources, to 

 find or to identify features previously discovered 

 and named by Antarctic explorers, due to factors 

 referred to above. In most cases these are either 

 minor features or are not required for general 

 reference at this time. 



Where the data at hand have been insufficient 

 for locating on the latest maps various features 

 discovered by explorers who worked earlier in Ant- 

 arctic history, and where explorers have been un- 

 able to find features reported by previous explorers, 

 no recommendations have been made to assign or 

 to fix the specific or generic parts of names, the 

 positions, or the types of features. 



A case in point is Bob Island in the Palmer 

 Archipelago. This island, which apparently lies 

 off the southeast coast of Wiencke Island in De 

 Gerlache Strait, cannot be located with certainty 

 on the rather definitive maps now available. This 

 name should be assigned as originally intended 

 if that becomes possible. Of two examples cited 

 in Special Publication No. 83, Mount Saint Michael 

 has subsequently been identified; Underwood 

 Rock, whose identification is less certain, may be 

 Broka Island. 



If it becomes apparent that the nomenclature 

 cannot be applied as originally intended, some 

 of the names might be assigned to local features 

 which will serve as distinctive landmarks to future 

 explorers and travelers approaching the area either 

 by sea or from the air. Names in this category 

 have therefore been placed on file for considera- 

 tion after future definitive exploration. 



Over a period of hundreds of years the terms 

 "land" and "coast" have been applied quite un- 

 systematically in Antarctica. The definitions de- 

 veloped by the Committee are set forth at this 

 point. 



As applied in the decisions on Antarctic names, 

 the term "land" refers to a major physical (geo- 

 graphical) subdivision of the continent. It implies 

 a concept of area, as opposed to linear extent, 

 gained either through observation over a great 

 extent or through recognition of the areal unity 

 of the named area. Although full or precise de- 

 limitation of these entities is of course not pos- 

 sible from the information now available, it seems 

 logical to assume that regions delimited on the 

 basis of physical or areal unity will be used more 

 and more as terms of reference in Antarctica. It 



should be noted that a "land" may include 

 "coasts" that may be differentiated and separately 

 named on its seaward margin, and it may include 

 fairly extensive features such as peninsulas or 

 plateaus. 



As applied in the decisions on Antarctic names, 

 the term "coast" refers to a zone or strip on the 

 seaward margin of the continent, possessing a 

 recognized degree of unity resulting either from 

 physiographic homogeneity, or from marked 

 breaks in the configuration of the coast line, or 

 from the history of its exploration. A "coast" 

 is usually of indeterminate depth. It includes the 

 small islands immediately off shore and marine 

 features of the transition zone. Whenever a 

 "coast" presents recognized physical unity, it has 

 been delimited by physical features. In the de- 

 limitation of each coast due account has been 

 taken of the history of its exploration, and when 

 physical unity is lacking or not known, "coasts" 

 have been delimited on the basis of exploration 

 history alone, subject to later modification when 

 more physiographic data are available. 



The name Mac-Robertson Coast illustrates the 

 procedures followed. It is so designated, instead 

 of as Mac-Robertson Land, because it was seen 

 mostly from the sea and from short fiights over 

 the coast line without deep penetration inland. 

 The delimiting breaks in the shore line at Cape 

 Darnley and William Scoresby Bay correspond with 

 its exploration by Mawson, who named it. Simi- 

 larly Lars Christensen Coast has been delimited 

 to include the section discovered by the Nor- 

 wegians, a somewhat more restricted application 

 than has been suggested before but one that 

 coincides with significant breaks in the coast line 

 and does justice to the facts of exploration. 



Although it is customary to express distances 

 in statute miles on land maps and in nautical 

 miles on charts used by mariners, nautical miles 

 are used in the texts of all decisions in this 

 volume for several reasons. It is understood that 

 in air navigation it is the practice to express 

 distances and speeds in nautical miles, whether 

 flying over either land or sea, and navigation 

 around Antarctica will probably be principally 

 by air or water for some time to come. The fact 

 that a nautical mile is, to all intents and pur- 

 poses, equal to one minute of latitude regardless 

 of position on the earth, makes the scaling of 

 distances from maps or the recording of distances 

 in surface exploration on the land easier in terms 

 of nautical miles. Furthermore, many of the geo- 

 graphical positions on most of the various recon- 

 naissance maps and miscellaneous charts used 

 up to this time in the nomenclature work will 

 be considerably revised as to positions of features 

 as exploration proceeds. Since a nautical mile 



