Mount Kirkpatrick
Highest mountain in the Queen Alexandra Range
title: "Mount Kirkpatrick" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-of-the-ross-dependency", "four-thousanders-of-antarctica", "paleontological-sites-of-antarctica", "shackleton-coast", "ultra-prominent-peaks-of-antartica"] description: "Highest mountain in the Queen Alexandra Range" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kirkpatrick" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Highest mountain in the Queen Alexandra Range ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Mount Kirkpatrick |
| elevation_m | 4528 |
| location | Antarctica |
| range | Queen Alexandra Range |
| coordinates | |
| map | Antarctica |
| :: |
| name = Mount Kirkpatrick | photo = | photo_caption = | elevation_m = 4528 | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = | prominence_ref = | parent_peak = | listing = | location = Antarctica| | range = Queen Alexandra Range | coordinates = | map = Antarctica Mount Kirkpatrick () is a lofty, generally ice-free mountain in Queen Alexandra Range 5 nmi west of Mount Dickerson. At 4528 m it is the highest point in the Queen Alexandra Range, Antarctica.
Exploration and name
Mount Kirkpatrick was discovered and named by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–1909. It was named for a Glasgow businessman, who was one of the original supporters of the expedition.
Location
Mount Kirkpatrick is in the central Queen Alexandra Range to the south of Grindley Plateau, north of the Adams Mountains and northeast of the Marshall Mountains. Prebble Glacier forms on its west slopes and flows west to Lennox-King Glacier. Mount Dickerson is to its east and Decennial Peak to its south. Martin Ridge extends southwest from Decennial Peak to the head of Berwick Glacier.
Fossil site
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Mount_Kirkpatrick_dinosaur_site.jpg" caption="Map showing location of the Mount Kirkpatrick dinosaur site, with [[stratigraphic]] context on the right"] ::
Mount Kirkpatrick holds one of the most important fossil sites in Antarctica, the Hanson Formation. Because Antarctica used to be warmer and supported dense conifer and cycad forest, and because all the continents were fused into a giant supercontinent called Pangaea, many ancient Antarctic wildlife share relatives elsewhere in the world. Among these creatures are tritylodonts, herbivorous mammal-like reptiles that are prevalent elsewhere at the time. A crow-sized pterosaur has been identified. In addition to these finds, numerous dinosaur remains have been uncovered. Fossils of dinosaurs resembling Plateosaurus, Coelophysis, and Dilophosaurus were excavated. Mount Kirkpatrick holds the first dinosaur scientifically named on the continent: the large predatory Cryolophosaurus. In 2004, scientists have even found partial remains of a large sauropod plant-eating dinosaur.
Glacialisaurus hammeri, an herbivorous dinosaur thought to be around 25 ft long and weighing perhaps 4-6 tons, was also identified from fossils on Mount Kirkpatrick in 2007, the only known site of Glacialisaurus hammeri.
Features
Nearby features include: ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/C84180s1_Ant.Map_The_Cloudmaker.jpg" caption="Mount Kirkpatrick in northwest of map"] ::
Fleming Summit
Mount Dickerson
Decennial Peak
Martin Ridge
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}}
- {{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=17311 |name=Fleming Summit}}
- {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C84180s1_Ant.Map_The_Cloudmaker.jpg |accessdate=2024-03-17 |title=The Cloudmaker |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
References
- [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071210214308.htm Science Daily 12 December 2007]
::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. ::