Task: Question Answering
Input (English): Context: Antarctica (US English , UK English or ) is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At , it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula., Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles (detritus) to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock by accumulating are called sediment. Before being deposited, the sediment was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from water solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension., West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains and is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It lies between the Ross Sea (partly covered by the Ross Ice Shelf), and the Weddell Sea (largely covered by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf). It may be considered a giant peninsula stretching from the South Pole towards the tip of South America., A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague., The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It derives its name from the British explorer James Ross who visited this area in 1841. To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and to the east Roosevelt Island, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, and is about from the South Pole., The Onyx River is an Antarctic meltwater stream which flows westward through the Wright Valley from Wright Lower Glacier and Lake Brownworth at the foot of the glacier to Lake Vanda, during the few months of the Antarctic summer. Despite being only in length it is the longest river in Antarctica., Coats Land is a region in Antarctica which lies westward of Queen Maud Land and forms the eastern shore of the Weddell Sea, extending in a general northeast-southwest direction between 20º00W and 36º00W. The northeast part was discovered from the "Scotia" by William S. Bruce, leader of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-04. He gave the name Coats Land for James Coats, Jr., and Major Andrew Coats, the two chief supporters of the expedition., Lake Brownworth is a meltwater lake immediately west of Wright Lower Glacier at the east end of Wright Valley, Victoria Land. The lake was mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and air photos obtained in 195660. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Frederick S. Brownworth Jr., USGS topographic engineer who worked several seasons in Antarctica. In 197071 he supervised aerial photography of the dry valleys of Victoria Land, including this lake., The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south. It is claimed by New Zealand. Since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, Article IV of which states: "No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica," most countries do not recognise territorial claims in Antarctica., Wright Lower Glacier is a stagnant glacier occupying the mouth of Wright Valley and coalescing at its east side with Wilson Piedmont Glacier, in Victoria Land. Formerly called Wright Glacier, but that name was amended by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) (195859) to distinguish this glacier from Wright Upper Glacier at the head of Wright Valley. Originally named by the British Antarctic Expedition (191013) for Charles Wright, physicist with the expedition., The Wright Valley , named for Sir Charles Wright , is the central one of the three large Dry Valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains , located west of McMurdo Sound at approximately 77 ° 10  S 161 ° 50  E. Wright Valley contains the Onyx River , the largest river in Antarctica , Lake Brownworth , the origin of 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 . Although portions of the interconnected valley system were discovered in 1903 by the Discovery expedition led by Captain 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 . Furthermore , Lake Vanda , fed by summer melt water from the Onyx River , maintained impossibly warm water at its deepest point . Although covered by roughly 3 metres ( 9.8 ft ) of ice year - round , lake temperatures of 25 ° C ( 77 ° F ) had been reliably measured at a depth of 65 metres ( 213 ft ) . The lack of snow , warm lake temperatures , unusual rock features , desiccated seal carcasses , and an almost complete lack of plant life invited closer investigation . 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 ., Vanda Station was an Antarctic research base in the western highlands (Victoria Land) of the Ross Dependency, specifically on the shore of Lake Vanda, at the mouth of Onyx River, in the Wright Valley. The four original station buildings were constructed in the austral summers of 19671968 and 19681969, just prior to the first winter-over by a five-man team from January to October 19, 1969. Subsequent wintering parties occupied the station in 1970 and 1974. During summer seasons, Vanda station was fully staffed until 1991. Scientific programs principally included meteorology, hydrology, seismology, earth currents, and magnetics. The station was administered by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), and was supported logistically by the permanent New Zealand research base of Scott Base on Ross Island., The United States Geological Survey (USGS, formerly simply Geological Survey) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility., McMurdo Sound and its ice-clogged waters extends about long and wide. The sound connects the Ross Sea to the north with the Ross Ice Shelf cavity to the south via Haskell Strait. The strait is largely covered by the McMurdo Ice Shelf. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to on the western shoreline. Ross Island, an historic jumping-off point for polar explorers, designates the eastern boundary. The active volcano Mt Erebus at dominates Ross Island. Antarctica's largest scientific base, the United States' McMurdo Station, as well as the New Zealand Scott Base are on the southern shore of the island. Less than 10 percent of McMurdo Sound's shoreline is free of ice. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world., The Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctic research facility located at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. The research facility was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica. The base was set up as support to field research and the centre for research into earth sciences, and now conducts research in many fields, operated by Antarctica New Zealand., The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean or the Austral Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters., East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the continent, separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. It lies almost entirely within the Eastern Hemisphere and its name has been accepted for more than a century. It is generally higher than West Antarctica and includes the lofty Gamburtsev Mountain Range in the centre., Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney., Earth, otherwise known as the world, is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets., A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. In geology, areas of continental crust include regions covered with water., The McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research center on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as one of three United States Antarctic science facilities. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from AmundsenScott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo., The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between high above the water surface. Ninety percent of the floating ice, however, is below the water surface., Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria. The rocky promontory of Minna Bluff is often regarded as the southernmost point of Victoria Land, and separates the Scott Coast to the north from the Hillary Coast of the Ross Dependency to the south., The McMurdo Ice Shelf is the portion of the Ross Ice Shelf bounded by McMurdo Sound and Ross Island on the north and Minna Bluff on the south. Studies show this feature has characteristics quite distinct from the Ross Ice Shelf and merits individual naming. A.J. Heine, who made investigations in 196263, suggested the name for the ice shelf bounded by Ross Island, Brown Peninsula, Black Island and White Island. The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names has extended the application of this name to include the contiguous ice shelf southward to Minna Bluff., A mountain range (also mountain barrier, belt, or system) is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of mountain ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically (regionally) related. On Earth, most significant mountain ranges are the result of plate tectonics, though mountain ranges are formed by a range of processes, are found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets., The Antarctic (US English , UK English or and or ) is a polar region, specifically the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises in the strict sense the continent of Antarctica and the island territories located on the Antarctic Plate. In a broader sense the Antarctic region include the ice shelves, waters, and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence, a zone approximately wide varying in latitude seasonally. The region covers some 20% of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5% (14 million km) is the surface area of the Antarctic continent itself. All of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude are administrated under the Antarctic Treaty System. In a biogeographic sense, the Antarctic ecozone is one of eight ecozones of the Earth's land surface., Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water (see also soil salinity).
Salinity is an important factor in determining many aspects of the chemistry
of natural waters and of biological processes within it, and is a thermodynamic state variable that, along with temperature and pressure, governs physical characteristics like the density and heat capacity of the water., A lake is an area of variable size filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are also larger and deeper than ponds, though there are no official or scientific definitions. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams., The Dead Sea (lit. Salt Sea), is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean, and one of the world's saltiest bodies of water. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is long and wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River., The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted sedimentary rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land. These mountains divide East Antarctica and West Antarctica. They include a number of separately named mountain groups, which are often again subdivided into smaller ranges., Lake Assal (, literally 'honey lake') is a crater lake in central-western Djibouti. It is located at the western end of Gulf of Tadjoura in the Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, at the top of the Great Rift Valley, some west of Djibouti city. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies below sea level in the Afar Triangle, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest point on Earth after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. No outflow occurs from the lake, and due to high evaporation, the salinity level of its waters is 10 times that of the sea, making it the most saline in the world after Don Juan Pond. Lake Assal is the world's largest salt reserve, which is exploited under four concessions awarded in 2002 at the southeast end of the lake; the major share of production (nearly 80%) is held by Société dExploitation du Lac and Société dExploitation du Salt Investment S.A de Djibouti., The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole., Cape Adare is the north-easternmost peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica., Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound., Lake Vanda is a lake in Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Ross Dependency, Antarctica. The lake is 5 km long and has a maximum depth of 69 m. On its shore, New Zealand maintained Vanda Station from 1968 to 1995. Lake Vanda is a hypersaline lake with a salinity more than ten times that of seawater, more than the salinity of the Dead Sea, and perhaps even more than of Lake Assal (Djibouti), which is the world's most saline lake outside of Antarctica. Lake Vanda is also meromictic, which means that the deeper waters of the lake don't mix with the shallower waters. There are three distinct layers of water ranging in temperature from on the bottom to the middle layer of and the upper layer ranges from . It is only one of the many saline lakes in the ice-free valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains. The longest river of Antarctica, Onyx River, flows West, inland, into Lake Vanda. There is a meteorological station at the mouth of the river., The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica, located at the base of the Southern Hemisphere. At the surface, it is the biggest, most prominent peninsula in Antarctica as it extends from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet which covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined together by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, lies only about away across the Drake Passage., Don Juan Pond, also called Don Juan, is a small and very shallow hypersaline lake in the west end of Wright Valley (South Fork), Victoria Land, Antarctica, west from Lake Vanda. It is wedged between the Asgard Range to the south and the Dais Range to the north. On the west end is a small tributary and a rock glacier. With a salinity level of over 40%, Don Juan Pond is the saltiest known body of water on Earth., The Southern Hemisphere is the half sphere of Earth which is south of the equator. It contains all or parts of five continents (Antarctica, Australia, about 90% of South America, the southern third of Africa, and several southern islands off the continental mainland of Asia), four oceans (Indian, South Atlantic, Southern, and South Pacific) and most of the Pacific Islands in Oceania. Its surface is 80.9% water, compared with 60.7% water in the case of the Northern Hemisphere, and it contains 32.7% of Earth's land., Ice is water frozen into a solid state. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color., Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in between. Rock glaciers may extend outward and downslope from talus cones, glaciers or terminal moraines of glaciers. There are two types of rock glaciers: periglacial glaciers, or talus-derived glaciers, and glacial rock glaciers, such as the Timpanogos Glacier in Utah, which are often found in the former places of glaciers. Possible Martian rock glacier features have been identified by the Mars Orbiter spacecraft. A rock glacier, especially if its origin is unclear, can be considered as a discrete debris accumulation., New Zealand is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmassesthat of the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Mui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamuand numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland., The Asgard Range is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It divides Wright Valley from Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley, and was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) (195859) after Asgard, the home of the Norse gods., The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending names for features in Antarctica. The United States does not recognise territorial boundaries within Antarctica, so ACAN will assign names to features anywhere within the continent, in consultation with other national nomenclatural bodies where appropriate., Subject: wright valley, Relation: located_in_the_administrative_territorial_entity, Options: (A) adare (B) africa (C) antarctica (D) auckland (E) australia (F) basin (G) bruce (H) caledonia (I) canberra (J) center (K) central (L) clark (M) dikhil region (N) djibouti (O) earth (P) east (Q) england (R) europe (S) fiji (T) frederick (U) galilee (V) gulf (W) jordan (X) lakes (Y) mainland (Z) minna ([) mountain (\) new caledonia (]) new zealand (^) north (_) north island (`) of (a) papua new guinea (b) queen maud land (c) river (d) rock (e) ross dependency (f) salt (g) scotland (h) scott (i) sea of galilee (j) solomon islands (k) south (l) tasmania (m) taylor (n) tierra del fuego (o) victoria (p) victoria land (q) west (r) wright valley
Output (English): victoria land