Leverett Glacier

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

Glacier in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica

title: "Leverett Glacier" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["glaciers-of-marie-byrd-land"] description: "Glacier in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica" topic_path: "general/glaciers-of-marie-byrd-land" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverett_Glacier" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Glacier in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox glacier"]

FieldValue
photoFile:Large crevasse on the Leverett Glacier.jpg
photo_captionLarge crevasse on the Leverett Glacier
coordinates
mapAntarctica
length50 nmi
::

| name = | other_name = | photo = File:Large crevasse on the Leverett Glacier.jpg | photo_width = | photo_alt = | photo_caption = Large crevasse on the Leverett Glacier | location = | coordinates = | coords_ref = | map = Antarctica | map_width = | map_alt = | map_caption = | area = | length = 50 nmi | width = | thickness = | terminus = | status = The Leverett Glacier () is about 50 nmi long and 3 to wide, flowing from the Antarctic Plateau to the south end of the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Maud Mountains. It is an important part of the South Pole Traverse from McMurdo Station to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, providing a route for tractors to climb from the ice shelf through the Transantarctic Mountains to the polar plateau.

Discovery and naming

The Leverett Glacier was discovered in December 1929 by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition geological party under Laurence Gould, and named by him for Frank Leverett, an eminent geologist at the University of Michigan and an authority on the glacial geology of the central United States.

Course

The Leverett Glacier forms on the polar plateau to the west of the California Plateau. The Stanford Plateau is to the east. It flows north through the Watson Escarpment between Mount Beazley to the west and McLean Peak to the east, then turns to flow in a north-north-west direction between the Tapley Mountains and Harold Byrd Mountains. It passes Price Peak, Mount Webster, George Nunatak, Marsh Ridge and Kelley Nunatak. It turns northwest and flows to the southwest to the Ross Ice Shelf, which it enters between Reynolds Nunatak to the west and Mount Fridovich to the east. The Leverett Glacier terminates to the east of the Scott Glacier. There are no named tributaries.

According to Sailing Directions for Antarctica (1960), "The Leverett Glacier fronting the Watson Escarpment is imperfectly defined on its eastern and northern margins. This glacier of comparatively low gradient brings a large volume of ice from the eastern plateau to the Ross shelf ice. The outlet glaciers, from the Liv to the Robert Scott, produce a common piedmont in front of the flanking foothills; this piedmont is deflected northwestward by the ice flow descending from the Leverett Glacier and the ice sheet northward of it. This stream, descending from the eastward plateau, produces extensive folding and other disturbances of the shelf ice between the Liv and Robert Scott Glaciers, and this broken area likely extends some distance northwestward."

South Pole Traverse

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/SPoT_route_and_Leverett_Glacier.jpg" caption="South Pole Traverse with Leverett Glacier highlighted"] ::

The Leverett Glacier is on the route through the Transantarctic Mountains for the South Pole Traverse (SPoT), an overland supply route between McMurdo Station and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. Until 2005 all fuel and other supplies were carried from the McMurdo Station to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station by Lockheed LC-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with skis, at considerable cost. Starting in 2005 the 1600 km South Pole Traverse was opened to deliver fuel using modified agricultural tractors pulling sleds holding bladders of fuel. The trip takes about 40 days each way. The route leads southeast over the McMurdo Ice Shelf and the Ross Ice Shelf for about 1050 km. It then climbs up the Leverett Glacier to the Antarctic Plateau, rising 3000 m along the 100 km glacier. The remainder of the route is a direct line of 450 km across the Antarctic Plateau.

The glaciological and meteorological conditions in the Leverett Glacier area are highly variable. The inbound South Pole Traverse (SPoT) in December 2013 found an open crevasse about 4 km long and 15 m wide near the transverse route. Crevasses of this nature are potentially dangerous, and are hard to predict.

Features

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/C86135s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Blackburn.jpg" caption="Polar plateau above Leverett Glacier"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/C85135s1_Ant.Map_Leverett_Glacier.jpg" caption="Leverett Glacier (southwest of map)"] ::

The glacier passes various isolated features:

Price Peak

George Nunatak

A nunatak, 1,050 m high, located midway between the east part of Harold Byrd Mountains and Leverett Glacier. Named by US-ACAN for Paul George, a member of the U.S. Army helicopter unit which supported the USGS Topo West and Topo East surveys of 1962–63.

Marsh Ridge

Kelley Nunatak

Reynolds Nunatak

References

Sources

  • {{citation|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fedgov/70039167/report.pdf |accessdate=2023-12-03 |edition=2 |editor-last=Alberts |title=Geographic Names of the Antarctic |editor-first=Fred G. |publisher=United States Board on Geographic Names |year=1995}}
  • {{citation |url=https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/bitstream/11681/24835/1/ERDC-CRREL%20TR-17-16.pdf |accessdate=2023-12-28 |last=Fegyveresi |first=John M. |date=October 2017 |title=The Potential Risks and Future Impact of a Large Leverett Glacier Crevasse along the South Pole Traverse (SPoT) |publisher=National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs}}
  • {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C85135s1_Ant.Map_Leverett_Glacier.jpg |accessdate=2023-12-28 |title=Leverett Glacier |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
  • {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C86135s1_Ant.Map_Mount_Blackburn.jpg |accessdate=2023-12-27 |title=Mount Blackburn |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
  • {{citation |title=Sailing Directions for Antarctica: Including the Off-Lying Islands South of Latitude 60 Degrees S. |edition=2 |year=1960 |publisher=United States. Hydrographic Office |url= https://hdl.handle.net/2346/88464 |ref= }}
  • {{citation |url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Crevasse/crevasse2.php |title=Out of the Crevasse Field : Feature Articles |last=Scott |first=Michon |date=30 August 2005 |website=earthobservatory.nasa.gov |access-date=4 April 2018}}

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

glaciers-of-marie-byrd-land