Alexander Island

Coordinates: 71°00′S 70°00′W / 71.000°S 70.000°W / -71.000; -70.000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Alexander Island (disambiguation).

Alexander Island
Alexander Island shown within Antarctica
Alexander Island is located in Antarctic Peninsula
Alexander Island
Alexander Island
Geography
LocationAntarctica
Coordinates71°00′S 70°00′W / 71.000°S 70.000°W / -71.000; -70.000
Area49,070 km2 (18,950 sq mi)
Area rank28th
Length390 km (242 mi)
Width80 km (50 mi)
Highest elevation2,987 m (9800 ft)
Highest pointMount Stephenson
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
Population0

Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarctic Peninsula from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. The George VI Ice Shelf entirely fills George VI Sound and connects Alexander Island to Palmer Land. The island partly surrounds Wilkins Sound, which lies to its west.[1] Alexander Island is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) long in a north–south direction, 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in the north, and 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide in the south.[2] Alexander Island is the second-largest uninhabited island in the world, after Devon Island.

History

Alexander Island was discovered on January 28, 1821, by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named it Alexander I Land for the reigning Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

What, in fact, is an island, was believed to be part of the Antarctic mainland until 1940. Its insular nature was proven in December 1940, by a two-person

United States Antarctic Service.[2][3] In the 1950s, a British base administered as part of the British Antarctic Territory was constructed as Fossil Bluff (Base KG).[4]

The island was claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908 as part of the British Antarctic Territory. Territorial claims have also been set by both Chile (in 1940) and Argentina (in 1942).[5] Currently, under the Antarctic Treaty no claim has been officially recognized. The island contains the British Fossil Bluff meteorological centre and refuelling base.[6]

Geography

Satellite photo of Alexander Island (NASA imagery)
Alexander Island Mountain Ranges

The surface of Alexander Island is predominantly ice-covered. There exist some exposed

outlet glaciers from the ice cap on Palmer Land and Alexander Island.[1][2][7]

Another notable feature of Alexander Island is Hodgson Lake, a former subglacial lake that has emerged from under an ice sheet that had covered it. Hodgson Lake is 2 km (1.2 mi) long by 1.5 km (0.93 mi), and has a 93.4 m (306 ft) deep water column that lies sealed beneath a 3.6 to 4.0 m (11.8 to 13.1 ft) thick perennial lake ice.

The northern side of Hodgson Lake is bounded by the Saturn Glacier, which flows east into George VI Sound, while the southern side of Hodgson Lake is bounded by the northern face of Citadel Bastion. During the Last Glacial Maximum, Hodgson Lake was covered by the ice sheet at least 470 m (1,540 ft) thick.

This ice sheet started thinning about 13,500 years ago. It retreated and left Hodgson Lake covered by perennial ice sometime before 11,000 years ago. This lake has been covered by perennial ice since that time.[8][9]

Other features on the island include Damocles Point[10] and Mount Tyrrell.

Brahms Inlet

Brahms Inlet (71°28′S 73°41′W / 71.467°S 73.683°W / -71.467; -73.683) is an ice-filled

Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Johannes Brahms, the German composer.[11]

Harris Peninsula

Harris Peninsula (71°31′S 74°6′W / 71.517°S 74.100°W / -71.517; -74.100) is a broad snow-covered

Commanding Officer of Squadron VXE-6, from May 1982 to May 1983.[12]

Lyadov Glacier

Lyadov Glacier (71°32′00″S 73°45′00″W / 71.53333°S 73.75000°W / -71.53333; -73.75000) is a glacier flowing east-northeast from

Brahms Inlet. It was named by the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1987 after Anatoly Lyadov
(1855–1914), a Russian composer.

Geology

Antarctic Peninsula's tectonic movement
Fossil Bluff base on Alexander Island

According to Hole, "The geology of Alexander Island can be attributed mainly to processes associated with the

olivine basalts on Beethoven Peninsula (<1-2.5 Ma).[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

The LeMay Range

serpulids.[16]

See also

icon Islands portal icon Geography portal

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780786435906
    .
  2. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Alexander Island
  3. doi:10.14430/arctic3531
    . Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  4. ^ HANDLIST OF METEOROLOGY RECORDS FROM BRITISH ANTARCTIC RESEARCH STATIONS. British Antarctic Survey Archives Service (2010)
  5. ^ "Alexander Island". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  6. ISBN 1-57607-422-6
    . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  7. S2CID 128840101
    .
  8. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.04.011
    .
  9. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.04.014
    .
  10. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from "Alexander Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  11. ^ "Brahms Inlet". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Harris Peninsula". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  13. ISBN 9780521372664
    .
  14. ISBN 9780521372664
    .
  15. ISBN 9780521372664
    .
  16. ^
    ISBN 9780521372664
    .
  17. doi:10.1306/St31524C8
  18. S2CID 128675340
    .
  19. S2CID 128496050
    .
  20. S2CID 129620018
    .
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