Evening star., 1948-08-27
Stars, Men and Atoms
Anturcticu Believed
Bisected by Mountains
British Scientist Reports On Study
Of East Coast of Continent

British Scientist Reports On Study !.
Of East Coast of Continent
By Thomas r. Hs~ry
An undiscovered mountain range comparable
to the Alps or the Rockies probably bisects the
Antarctic continent from the Ross Sea south
of New Zealand to the Atlantic Ocean, running
approximately along the meridian Of Green
wich.
This is the conclusion of H. H. Lamb, meteoro.
logist of the British whaling ship Balsena,
which spent last winter skirting the coast Of
East Antarctica and whose reports have Just
been presented to the Royal Geographic so-
ciety
Such an assumption, Mr.. Lamb reported, is
essential to explain the curious weather pat
tern and the distribution of winds sweeping
northward from the South Pole one of the
most striking of Antarctic phenomena. The
range. he concludes, must be from l2,oOo to
$4,000 feet in altitude. A possible alternative.
he admits, Is that the great Ice cap reaches q
crest approximately along this line.
Backbone Of Continent.
1T must be considered" Mr.. Lamb said, 'ths
ooehoouc VI tIlc AHIaTCIlC comment.
That such gigantic range of mountains
perhaps almost entirely buried under ice, should
have remained unknown so long is not unlikely
because there have been no land expeditions
and practically no flights west of the great
Beardmoia glacier, earths largest ice river,
which empties into the Ross ice barrier
One OF the flights on Admiral Richard E.
Byrd's 1861 expedition which went slightly
beyond the Beardmoia reported rapidly ris.
Ing elevation but no breaks, such as would bs
due to mountain peaks. The observation was
made under difficult circumstances, however
and was somewhat debatable
All explorers have reported that once inside
the cracked rim Of black mountains emerging
above the ice which nearly circles the conti-
nent all that can be seen is level plain OF ice
stretching to infnity. This has been the land
scape reported by Admiral Byrd on both sides
of the pole.
The Balaena expedition, according to the re-
port of John Grierson its chief flight officer,
definitely confirmed the existence of the hith-
erto somewhat mythical Budd Land beyond the
Shackleton ice shelf almost due south of Aus
tralia.
First Reported by Wilkes.
This part Of the continental coast, described
as a lofty. snow-covered mountain range trend
ing nearly east and west, first was reported on
February H. 1910, from the Vincennes one
OF the ships of Capt Charles Wilkes exploring
expedition. Partly on this observation rests
Capt. Wilkes claim to the discovery of the
Antarctic Continent.
The land never has been seen with certainty
since, until Grierson's observations. In 1917
the British ship Aurora, in almost the same
position reported by Capt Wilkes, was unabls
to discern land. A few years later the Aus
tralian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson also was
unable to confirm the existence of Budd Land
but reported the so-called "ice blink" on the
horizon which indicated that land was some-
where to the southwark.
This region Is particularly subject to mrages.
so little confidence can be placed in single OBJ
servations from a distance. Capt. Wilkes ha,
been accused of taking his report. But Mr..
Grierson reports the Budd Coast in approxi-
mately the position described by Capt Wilkes
and with much the same landscape was visible
for about three days to the airman from the
Balsena. The fact that the scenery did not
change strongly discounts the possibility OF q
mirage.
Mr.. Grierson reported the first flights vet
made over the Shacketon ice shelf next to the
Ross Shelf alone the earth's greatest mass OF
floating ice. It's face he says, rises sheer from
dead lake" about 30 miles wide which lies
just beyond the pack ice.
part Of the Pacific coast west Of the
coastal mountains is moving northwestward at
rate OF about two inches a year.
In this past so years this has caused a dis
placement of fixed points, used by the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey In map
making, by as much as ten feet
This has just been reported to the American
Geophysical Union here by C. A. Whitten of
the Survey staff. The movement certainly
applies to the region Immediately around San
Francisco and there is reason to believe that II
extends to much larger area of the coast
subject to the same titanic earth stresses.
The first fixed points were established by
star observations in this region between 1880
and 1885. They were as accurate as was pos
sible at the time and engineers could do little
better today. These points were somewhat
dislocated, however, by the San Francisco
earthquake and were re-established by an
even more painstaking survey in 1905. Much
of the work was done over again in 1929
when there was the first indication that towns,
cities and mountains were moving.
Last Survey in 1916.
The last survey was made In 1916 and there
no longer can be any doubt, Mr.. Whitten re-
ports, Of the reality of the movement. This
changes in position are much greater than
can be accounted for by surveying errors They
apply equally to all the points and all gen.
orally are In the same direction.
The movement Is certainly real. Mr. Whit
ten says, for a strip 40 miles wide and 100 miles
long. 1t well may cover considerably larger
region. This summer q Coast and Geodetic
Survey field party is engaged in resurveying
the region, referring once more to certain fixed
stars
The cause Of the movement Is unknown It
is undoubtedly due to great stresses Of some
sort which are being built up In the earths
crust, an understanding of which Is consid-
cred of primary Importance by the Govern
ment engineers The region Is notably one
of marked instability