Saturday, January 8, 2011
Field day on the moraine at the head of the Argo Glacier
On Wednesday (15 Dec) we were scheduled to fly with Twin Otter to the Turret and Lonewolf Nunataks north and west of the Miller Range and CTAM. By the time we made our way to the Nimrod Glacier it was apparent that the Lonewolf site was not ideal as it was socked in with weather. As a second option we made our way to the Turret Nunatak. We did a few flyovers to examine the site but it appeared that the weather might close in there as well. So, we decided to go with our third option: the moraine at the head of the Argo Glacier, fairly close to our camp on the Ascent Glacier. The weather here was spectacular and we collected a large number of the type of basement clasts we have been looking for.
Getting ready to load into our commuter flight to our worksite.
All eyes were glued to the Twin Otter windows.
View of the Nimrod Glacier and Queen Elizabeth Range from out the window of the cockpit.
Crevasses on the surface of the Nimrod Glacier.
The moraine at the head of the Argo Glacier—the site we sampled this day.
Getting gear ready to search for clasts.
Gathering on the moraine; Dylan’s stone stacks in the foreground.
Large glacial clast in the moraine. Marsh Glacier and the Queen Elizabeth Range in the far background.
Searching for the perfect clasts.
Mark Fanning looking for clasts and wielding the Big Hammer.
Our fearless Canadian pilots: John Rees and co-pilot Bradon. Kenn Borek Air (KBA), a Canadian company, runs all of the Twin Otters in Antarctica for the USAP and has done so for decades. All of the Twin Otters are flow down to the ice each year all the way from Calgary, Canada. All the pilots, naturally, are Canadian and many are colorful characters such as John and Braydon. In the Northern Hemisphere summer they generally fly in the high Arctic.
John Goodge and Mark Fanning coming in from a hard day of work on the moraine.
The all important gathering and organization of clasts. A good haul!
Loading up the Twin Otter. Pilot John Rees did multiple low passes over the site before landing and was not particularly comfortable with the landing site because of the roughness of the hard drifts. On take off he wanted more weight in the tail to “sit on the stinger” to shorten the taxiing before takeoff as much as possible. There was nary a breeze and so no help with lift from the wind. But other than the rough taxiing, the takeoff was fine and uneventful.
Friday, January 7, 2011
First day in the field in the Miller Range
Our first full day in camp was a grey, overcast day with no planned flights. As a result we spent the day looking at the basement rocks of Milan Ridge, just to the west of camp. So, we fired up the snowmobiles, hooked up the sleds, and rattled our way across the hard wind-packed snow and blue ice to the outcrops. The poor surface definition made for identifying crevasses more difficult a few of which were on the flanks of the Ascent Glacier.
A grey day. We snowmobiled to the edge of the blue ice west of camp. Visible in the background is the large “wind scoop” in the blue ice near the head of the glacier. The wind scoop is evidence of persistent winds down the Ascent glacier.
Tanya and John examining talus blocks beneath the outcrops on the Milan Ridge.
Garnet bearing granite gneiss.
Amphibolite clast in the wind sculptured blue ice.
Dylan Taylor surveying the scenery on Milan Ridge.
Amphibolite lens in a garnet bearing granitic gneiss
Lineated block of grey gneiss
Basement outcrop above the rolling blue ice. Note the line of snowmobiles on the blue ice to the left. Dylan Taylor at the bottom of the talus slope. The blue ice forms a steeply rolling surface here. Crampons required!
Dylan Taylor, John Goodge, and Mark Fanning examining the outcrop.
Later in the afternoon we went to look at the granites exposed on the other side of the Ascent Glacier. Here Dylan Taylor and John Goodge examine a sample in the rock strewn blue ice of Hockey Cirque.
Two contrasting clasts: A grey gneiss and a younger undeformed Ross granite.
Granite strewn blue ice in foreground. Steeply rolling sheets of blue ice in the background. This is near the wind scoop at the head of the Ascent Glacier east of camp.
A large granite block with smaller granite boulders in a depression in the blue ice.
Establishing camp on the Ascent Glacier
After a week in CTAM due to weather delays, we left Monday, December 13 for our camp on the Ascent Glacier in the Miller Range.
The Twin Otter was packed to the gills with the last of our stuff: Personal bags, sleep kits, and miscellaneous remaining items.
We arrived on the windswept Ascent Glacier to find the gear that had been cached the week before mostly buried in the snowdrifts.
The unloading began.
And the digging out began as well. Part of the USAP protocol is when dropping off a camp party, they need to set up a shelter (tent), establish communications with MacOp in McMurdo, and start up a stove before the plane can leave. This prevents a plane from leaving before a party has demonstrated basic functionality.
The dig out is largely done, except for the snowmobiles.
With one tent up and communications established, John Rees and co-pilot Bradon take off to return to CTAM.
And in the flash of an instant, they were gone—up over the top of the Ascent Glacier with a half hour flight back to CTAM.
The crew with the rest of the work to be done.
The worst were the snowmobiles, which were entombed in very hard, wind-blown snow. Snow had blown into, and set up in, every nook and cranny, including around the track and suspension, and under the hood. The snow formed a perfect mold around all the engine parts and had to be chiseled out piece by piece. This had to be done before the skidoos could be run and took most of the day to finish. The snowmobiles had covers, but these hadn’t arrived from McMurdo by the time the machines were ferried to the Ascent Glacier from CTAM.
The camp with our 5 personal tents and the Arctic Oven.
The Scott tent which serves as our outhouse shelter and the accompanying “P” flag.
At the end of the day, mountain guide Dylan Taylor relaxes for a cup of tea in the Arctic Oven—our cooking, eating, and gathering tent.
The Twin Otter was packed to the gills with the last of our stuff: Personal bags, sleep kits, and miscellaneous remaining items.
We arrived on the windswept Ascent Glacier to find the gear that had been cached the week before mostly buried in the snowdrifts.
The unloading began.
And the digging out began as well. Part of the USAP protocol is when dropping off a camp party, they need to set up a shelter (tent), establish communications with MacOp in McMurdo, and start up a stove before the plane can leave. This prevents a plane from leaving before a party has demonstrated basic functionality.
The dig out is largely done, except for the snowmobiles.
With one tent up and communications established, John Rees and co-pilot Bradon take off to return to CTAM.
And in the flash of an instant, they were gone—up over the top of the Ascent Glacier with a half hour flight back to CTAM.
The crew with the rest of the work to be done.
The worst were the snowmobiles, which were entombed in very hard, wind-blown snow. Snow had blown into, and set up in, every nook and cranny, including around the track and suspension, and under the hood. The snow formed a perfect mold around all the engine parts and had to be chiseled out piece by piece. This had to be done before the skidoos could be run and took most of the day to finish. The snowmobiles had covers, but these hadn’t arrived from McMurdo by the time the machines were ferried to the Ascent Glacier from CTAM.
The camp with our 5 personal tents and the Arctic Oven.
The Scott tent which serves as our outhouse shelter and the accompanying “P” flag.
At the end of the day, mountain guide Dylan Taylor relaxes for a cup of tea in the Arctic Oven—our cooking, eating, and gathering tent.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Back in McMurdo
We arrived back in McMurdo last night on a Twin Otter that was travelling to McM from the South Pole. Many photos to post now that I have access to the internet again. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Queen Alexandra Range
View of the Queen Alexandra range.
The weather broke, of course, on Sunday. Sunday is a day off for most of the nonscience support workers and, therefore, a no-fly day in Antarctica for the United States Antarctic Program. But a beautiful day it was, with bright sunny skies and no wind.
A few of the CTAM staff organized a day trip to the mountains of the Queen Alexandra Range east of camp to look at the Glossopteris fossils preserved in the Permian sediments exposed there. This was a general outing for the hard-working staff, who get to see the nearby mountains every day, but do not routinely get a chance to experience them firsthand. The leaf fossils are from an ancient tree similar to today’s ginkgo and have been found in similar sediments in Antarctica, Australia, Africa and South America, providing a key piece of evidence demonstrating these continents were all connected in the supercontinent Gondwana some 260 million years ago.
Tanya Dryer striving for the top
Allan Ashworth and Mark Fanning ready for the CTAM excursion.
View of Queen Alexandra Range from halfway.
View of the Walcott Névé, CTAM, and the Skiway from halfway.
View of the foothills to the Queen Alexandra Range.
Jeff Vervoort at the top...or rather the end of the hike
View of the Walcott Névé from the top. Blue rolling sheet of ice in the foreground.
Dylan Taylor on the way up.
View of the Northern end of the Walcott Névé.
On the way down; CTAM in the background.
Glossopteris fossils in Beacon sediments.
The final descent to the snowmobiles.
Back to the snowmobiles and the ride back to CTAM.
Hoodoo like structures in the Ferrar dolerites.
[Thanks to Spencer Niebuhr for relaying photos from remote camp]
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