Evening star., 1952-08-04
Antarctic Ice Cube
Is 7,450 Feet Thick :
PIunt and AnimuI Life
Exist in Desolote Woste
By Thomos R. Henry

Parts Of the Antarctic continent, the
great land mass the size of the United
States and Europe combined. are COW
cred with ice at least 7.450 feet thick.
There is both plant and animal life.
although Of low orders, throughout the
desolate expanse of Queen Maud Land.
the vast area east Of the Weddell Sea
walled by ice-covered mountains which
has been the base Of the combined
Swedish -Norwegian-Bri expedition
during the past three years.
These are among the reports made
to the Royal Geographic Society in Lon
don before the expedition dispersed.
They had mapped several hundred
hitherto unknown square miles. includ-
ing more than 800 miles Of coastline.
The area had been surveyed slightly
by Germans in 1898 when Hitler ordered
the research ship Schwabenland to push
south into the ice pack in search Of
territory that might be claimed for the
Reich. Later the commander. Capt.
Ritscher, reported peaks about $4,000
feet high and "oaSes" of ice-free land
upon which settlements might be made.
The British Scandinavian explorers
failed to confirm these findings. DIR.
Fred Roots, senior geologist of the ex-
pedition reported that the mountains
described by Capt. Ritscher were about
5000 feet high with only the topmost
5000 feet protruding from the ice. There
were no GASES comparable to the la iye
ice-free area found on the other side
of the continent by flyers of Admiral
Byrd's 1946-47 expedition.
Life ON Exposed Rocks.
On the high exposed rocks. DR.. Owe
Wilson, the Swedish medical officer.
found primitive animal and vegetable
life. Plants were represented by few
lichens and moss-like growths while the
animals were mites smaller than pin
heads that clung to the under surface
Of rocks and must have been frozen
solid most Of the year. Birds were seen
on the distant mountains but there was
no way of identifying them.
Ice thicknesses, it was determined.
varied from 900 to 7.450 feet. This
was determined by an echo-sounding
device. AS the explorers climbed from
the first hills around the coast it be-
came more and more difficult to get
echoes, but the greatest thickness
measurements are considered quite re-
liable.
Zone problem raised by the expedi-
tons glimpse beneath the Antarctic
ice MANTLE" according to the report of
the work In the journal of the Ex-
plorers' Club, lis just what is meant
by the coastline Of Antarctica. The line
where the rock beneath the ice reaches
sea level would fit to normal concep-
ton Of coastline but the maps show
much of it as shelf ice, or barrier ice
and ice cliffs. with no rock showing.
This Is the important coastline 50 far
as shipping is concerned"
Studying Penguins For Year.
Meanwhile the third French Antarc-
tic expedition directed by Paul-Emile
Victor Is carrying out extensive surveys
of Adelia Land. the French wedge in the
Australian sector of the continent. One
group plans to spend a year studying
the life and habits of the emperor
penguins. Another will try to locate
with some precision the magnetic South
Pole.
The dispute between the United King
dom, Argentina and Chile over the
northern peninsula and Palmer Land
and some Of the Antarctic islands still
is in progress. according to the Explor-
ers' Club journal. Especially important
seems to be control of the Drake passage
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
south Of Cape Horn. Argentina has
been building naval base near the tip
Of the horn. Across the Drake pas
sage, which is about 500 miles wide,
she has moved into several small islands,
including Gamma Island, near the shore
Of the Palmer peninsula.
Australia has just set UP two bases
on Heard and Macquerie Islands, be-
tween Antarctica and Tasmania. She
also has obtained permission from
France to use Kerguelen Land In the
South Indian Ocean as q supply base.