POSITION OF THE ICE-PARTING 3 



American Andes,* we have hesitated in the matter of adopting the convenient name 

 for these ranges as a whole already applied to them in the American Sector by 

 Arctowski, "The Antarctandes," and have decided to call them "The Antarctic 

 Horst." The general distribution of the Antarctic volcanoes, in relation to this 

 great Horst, is discussed in the concluding chapter of this memoir. 



A very interesting physiographic feature of Antarctica is that while the mountains 

 of the Antarctic Horst are mostly considerably higher than the great plateau which 

 lies behind them, they do not actually form the parting for the inland ice.f In the 

 case of the plateau on which the South Magnetic Pole is situated our Expedition 

 proved that there is a definite parting of the inland ice, as well as a parting of the 

 dominant surface winds, at a point about 60 miles S.E. of the South Magnetic Pole 

 area and about 180 miles inland from the coast. 



Amundsen discovered a parting of the ice at the back of Queen Maud's Range 

 on the meridian of 170° W., near 87° 40' S. Shackleton in 1909 probably crossed a 

 continuation of this ice parting before reaching his furthest south in 88° 23'. 



Scott, in his important journey over the plateau to the west of the Ferrar Glacier, 

 proved that that glacier is fed by a vast snowfield, the general surface of which is no 

 less than 5000 feet lower than the mountains of the Royal Society Range, but 

 slightly above the level of the low-lying part of the great horst, which lies between 

 the Ferrar Glacier on the south and Mount Nansen on the north. According to 

 Scott's levels, for over 100 miles west of the upper end of the Ferrar Glacier 

 the surface of the inland ice, though undulating, Is practically level, its height varying 

 from about 7200 feet to 7500 feet above sea-level. It will be an interesting point 

 for future expeditions to determine the exact trend of this ice parting and the varying 

 directions in which the ice moves away from it. The approximate trend is shown on 

 the general map of Antarctica in this memoir. 



The special area with which our Expedition was concerned was that adjacent to 

 the western shores of Ross Sea, Ross Island, and the land stretching inland from the 

 coast towards the South Pole and the South Magnetic Pole. We may now proceed 

 to summarise some of the chief physiographic characteristics of this Ross Sea region. 



Coast. The coast which forms the western boundary of Ross Sea and of the Ross 

 Barrier is one of the most wonderful in the world, and is obviously situated on a 

 zone of stupendous fractures, mostly trending north and south, and with a heavy 

 downthrow to the east, amounting probably to at least 5000 or 6000 feet (1525-1829 

 metres). From Cape Adare on the north to beyond the Beardmore Glacier on the 

 south, a distance of about 870 miles (1394 kilometres), Ross Sea and the Ross Barrier 

 are bounded by majestic table-topped ranges supported by gigantic buttresses, groins, 

 and aretes of dark rock, so steep that they are mostly bare of snow. At intervals of 



* For example, the rocks of the ranges of South Victoria Land are mostly of Atlantic type and not 

 folded. Those of Graham Land and neighbouring areas are essentially of Pacific typt and are folded, 

 t In this respect the physiography of Antarctica much resembles that of Western Greenland. 



