Prince Charles Mountains

Fig. 3.2 Precambrian basement rocks are exposed along the coast of East Antarctica and in the mountain ranges along the edge of the ice sheet. The localities that are identified by number include 1.Vincennes Bay, 2. Bunger Hills (Queen Mary Coast), 3. Vestfold and Larsemann Hills 4. Prince Charles Mountains (MacRobertson Land) 5. Enderby Land 6. Sor Rondane Mountains 7. New Schwabenland (Queen Maud Land), and 8. Shackleton Range. Precambrian rocks also form the crust of East Antarctica that is covered by the ice sheet (Adapted from Stonehouse 2002 Craddock 1982)...

Webb JA, Fielding CR (1993) Permo-Triassic sedimentation within the Lambert Graben, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. In Findlay RH, Unrug R, Banks MR, Veevers 11 (eds) Gondwana Eight Assembly, evolution. 

Antarctica undoubtedly contains mineral deposits that formed in the course of its long geologic history. The vast amount of ice on the continent (Section 2.6) and the coal seams that are interbedded with the rocks of the Beacon Supergroup have already been mentioned in Section 10.3.5. In addition, Ravich et al. (1982) described Precambrian iron deposits in the Prince Charles Mountains located west of the Lambert Glacier... 

The harsh climate and remote location of present-day Antarctica have shielded it from the exploitation of its natural resources except for whales, seals, and fish in the Southern Ocean. The natural resources of Antarctica include the ice that covers most of the continent, large deposits of bituminous coal, and as yet unexplored reservoirs of petroleum and natural gas. In addition, Antarctica is known to contain large deposits of iron ore in the Prince Charles Mountains and in the Dufek Massif which may also contain titanium, vanadium, and chromium. None of these deposits has yet been exploited because the cost of production is likely to exceed the value of the materials that are recovered, because of the danger of serious accidents in a hostile environment, and because of the unavoidable but undesirable contamination of the environment. Last but not least, the governments of the Antarctic Treaty Nations have prohibited all activities relating to mineral resources in Antarctica. 

Bennett AJR, Taylor GH (1972) Coals from the vicinity of the Prince Charles Mountains. In Adie RJ (ed) Antarctic geology and geophysics. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, Norway, pp 591-598... 

Ravich MG, Fedorov LV, Tarutin DA (1982) Precambrian iron deposits of the Prince Charles Mountains. In Craddock C (ed) Antarctic geoscience. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, pp 853-858... 

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