Wright Valley

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Geographic feature in Antarctica

title: "Wright Valley" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["valleys-of-victoria-land", "mcmurdo-dry-valleys", "transantarctic-mountains"] description: "Geographic feature in Antarctica" topic_path: "general/valleys-of-victoria-land" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Valley" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Geographic feature in Antarctica ::

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

FieldValue
nameWright Valley
photoImage:Wright Valley From Bull Pass.jpg
photo_captionView west towards Lake Vanda and Dais from the foot of Bull Pass.
mapAntarctica
map_size180
locationAntarctica
elevation
townsVanda Station
watercoursesOnyx River
::

| name = Wright Valley | embed = | other_name = | photo = Image:Wright Valley From Bull Pass.jpg | photo_size = | photo_width = | photo_caption = View west towards Lake Vanda and Dais from the foot of Bull Pass. | photo_alt = | map = Antarctica | map_size = 180 | map_alt = | map_caption = | location = Antarctica | coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | elevation = | elevation_m = | elevation_ft = | elevation_ref = | direction = | length = | width = | area = | depth = | type = | age = | boundaries = | topo = | towns = Vanda Station | traversed = | watercourses = Onyx River | footnotes = The Wright Valley () is a large east–west trending valley, formerly occupied by a glacier but now ice free except for Wright Upper Glacier at its head and Wright Lower Glacier at its mouth, in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the VUWAE (1958-59) for Sir Charles Wright, for whom the BrAE (1910-13) named the glacier at the mouth of this valley.

The Wright Valley is the central one of the three large McMurdo Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains, located west of McMurdo Sound. Wright Valley contains the Onyx River, the longest river in Antarctica, Lake Brownworth, the origin of the Onyx River, and Lake Vanda, which is fed by the Onyx River. Its southwestern branch, South Fork, is the location of Don Juan Pond. The upland area known as the Labyrinth is at the valley's west end.

Exploration

Although portions of the interconnected valley system were discovered in 1903 by the Discovery expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the Wright Valley located near the centre of the system was not seen until aerial photographs of the region were made in 1947. By the mid-1960s scientists were becoming increasingly intrigued by the paradoxical fact that the valley lay immediately adjacent to the permanent East Antarctic Ice Sheet, yet had remained ice-free for at least thousands of years. Although Lake Vanda is covered by roughly 3 m of ice year-round, lake temperatures of 25 C had been reliably measured at a depth of 65 m.

Increasing summer field activity and a clear need to establish a winter record led New Zealand's Antarctic Division and the National Science Foundation of the United States to plan a more permanent base in the valley. In 1968 New Zealand established Vanda Station near the eastern end of Lake Vanda.

Location

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Lake_Vanda_map.jpg" caption="Map of Wright Valley with [[Onyx River]] and [[Lake Vanda]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/C77198s1_Ant.Map_Taylor_Glacier.jpg" caption="Asgard Range south of center of mapped region. Wright Upper Glacier at west end of the range."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/C77190s1_Ant.Map_Ross_Island.jpg" caption="East end of Asgard Range south of center"] ::

The Wright Valley is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It runs from Wright Upper Glacier in the west to Wright Lower Glacier to the east. It separates the Olympus Range to the north from the Asgard Range to the south.

Features

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Bull_Pass_-_Antarctica.jpg" caption="Bull Pass"] ::

Features of the valley, from west to east, include the Labyrinth, Don Juan Pond, Dais, North Fork, South Fork, Lake Vanda, Lake Canopus, Onyx River and Lake Brownsworth.

Labyrinth

Main article: Labyrinth (Antarctica)

Minotaur Pass

Dais Col

Don Juan Pond

Main article: Don Juan Pond

North Fork

South Fork

Lake Vanda

Main article: Lake Vanda

Lake Bull

Lake Canopus

Onyx River

Main article: Onyx River

Bull Pass

Lake Brownworth

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Lake_Brownworth_2022-01-27_Sentinel-2_L2A_Highlight_Optimized_Natural_Color.jpg" caption="[[Sentinel-2]] image (2022) of Lake Brownworth"] ::

Tributary valleys and glaciers

Tributary valleys and hanging glaciers entering from the Asgard Range, from west to east, include Donner Valley, Sykes Glacier, Odin Valley, Heimdall Glacier, Bartley Glacier, Meserve Glacier, Hart Glacier, Goodspeed Glacier and Denton Glacier.

Donner Valley

Sykes Glacier

Heimdall Glacier

Valhalla Glacier

Conrow Glacier

Bartley Glacier

Meserve Glacier

Hart Glacier

Goodspeed Glacier

Denton Glacier

Pukeko Pond

Main article: Pukeko Pond

Martin Cirque

References

Sources

  • {{citation|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fedgov/70039167/report.pdf |accessdate=2024-01-30 |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 |title=Vanda Station, History of an Antarctic Outpost |publisher=New Zealand Antarctic Society |last=Harrowfield |first=David L. |year=2005 |ISBN=0-473-06467-7}}
  • {{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=17399 |name=Martin Cirque}}
  • {{cite gnis2 |type=antarid |id=17664 |name=Pukeko Pond}}
  • {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C77190s1_Ant.Map_Ross_Island.jpg |accessdate=2024-02-13 |title=Ross Island |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}
  • {{citation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C77198s1_Ant.Map_Taylor_Glacier.jpg |accessdate=2024-02-11 |title=Taylor Glacier |publisher=USGS: United States Geological Survey |ref= }}

References

  1. *McKelvey, B. C., and P. N. Webb, 1962: "Geological investigations in southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, 3, Geology of the Wright Valley." ''New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophys.'' 5, 143-162.
  2. Ragotzkie, R. A., and G. Likens, 1964: "The heat balance of two Antarctic lakes." ''Limnology and Oceanography'' 9, 412-425 (abstract available online [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.4319/lo.1964.9.3.0412/full#footer-citing here])

::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. ::

valleys-of-victoria-landmcmurdo-dry-valleystransantarctic-mountains