Dominion, Beardmore Glacier

The Fremouw Formation is widely distributed in the central Transantarctic Mountains and occurs in the Queen Alexandra and Queen Ehzabeth ranges as well in the Dominion and Supporters ranges at the head of the Beardmore Glacier (McGregor 1965a, b). In addition, Collinson and Elliot (1984) mapped the Fremouw Formation in the Shackleton Glacier area of the Queen Maud Mountains. Barrett et al. (1986) estimated that the total thickness of the Fremouw Formation lies between 670 and 800 m. 

Pliocene (about 3.6 Ma) has been episodic at rates of about 1 km per million years. However, different blocks of the Transantarctic Mountains have been uplifted at different rates and at different times. For example, Webb et al. (1994) reported uplift rates between about 350 m/10 year and 548 m/10 year based on the occurrence of Pliocene marine microfossils in the mountains of the Queen Alexandra Range adjacent to the Beardmore Glacier and in the Dominion Range. 

In one of the many seminal papers published by John Mercer he reported the presence of thick coherent drift capping...peaks and ridges in the Beardmore Glacier area in Fig. 19.4 (Mercer 1972). The till deposits Mercer described occur on Ml Sirius (2,3(X) m, 84°08 S and 163°15 E) and in the Dominion Range (2,300 m, 85°20 S and 166°30 E) at the head of the Beardmore Glacier. 

The Dominion Range in Fig. 19.6, located at the confluence of the Beardmore and Mill glaciers at 85°20 S and 166°30 E, was first visited by members of Robert Scott s and Ernest Shackleton s expeditions on their way to the South Geographyic Pole (Section 1.4). David and Priestley (1914) mentioned that members of Shackleton s party found several small limestone erratics on the summit of Mt. Hope on the western side of the mouth of the Beardmore Glacier and about 8(X) m above the present level of the ice. This observation was later confirmed by Oliver (1963) who reported that a lateral moraine on the northeast slope of Mt. Kyffin at the mouth of the Beardmore Glacier extends to an elevation of about 1,060 m above the present level of the Beardmore Glacier. 

McKelvey BC, Webb P-N, Harwood DM, Mabin MCG (1991) The Dominion Range Sirius Group A record of the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene Beardmore Glacier. In Thomson MRA, Crame JA, Thomson JW (eds) Geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, pp 675-682... 

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