Posted on 02/05/2010 9:40:42 PM PST by GVnana
Most of Antarctica has about 2 1/2 miles of ice covering it, and that cold, white wasteland is what most people picture when they think of the South Pole. But a series of dry valleys in Antarctica, about 4,000 kilometers square, have no ice on them at all. The moisture is sucked from the dry valleys by a rain shadow effect — winds rushing over them at speeds up to 200/mph — leaving a bizarre and fascinating landscape, which looks more like Mars than the rest of our planet.
Lacking the resources (or cojones) to go there myself, these photos are by scientists and researchers who’ve been there, and are included as part of galleries on the McMurdo Dry Valleys Management Area
Photo by Mike White
The Valleys have been carved out by glaciers that have retreated, exposing valley floors and walls that typically have a top layer of boulders, gravel and pebbles, which are weathered and wind-sorted. Lower layers are largely cemented together by ice.
Unusual surface deposits include marine sediments, ash, and sand dunes like this one: 
Photo by Chris Kannen
Below is a volcanic “labyrinth,” a very special formation of basalt, which geologist Edmond Mathez describes this way: The dikes and sills of the Dry Valleys are the remnants of a kind of plumbing system through which magma worked its way to the surface in a series of eruptions about 180 million years ago. Volcanic plumbing systems are rarely exposed at the surface. The reason is simply that around active volcanoes, lava covers everything. Exposed to view in various parts of the Dry Valleys, however, is a vertical slice of the dikes and sills immediately beneath the lavas, which cuts across layers of rock two and a half miles thick. Hence along the valley walls, geologists can see much deeper into the volcanic plumbing than they can almost anywhere else. 
Very Nice.
Amazing. 80 years is just not enough. So much to do. So much to see and learn.
Any resources there? Oil? Coal? Minerals? Would make a great testbed for mining and habitats on other worlds.
Been there.
Done that.
No tee shirt though.
For later
at 63 . . . I sure know that feeling.
But then I already had that feeling in High School in 1965.
Neat stuff!
Thank you. Just finished rereading Robinsons Antarctica. Yes,he writes with an eco agenda but i enjoy the descriptions of the continent,the way he imparts the very coldness of the place through words. The Dry Valleys are referenced throughout so its nice to see the pictures.
I think I see a solution to Gitmo.
Looks like an interesting place to test a building design against the 200 mph wind load and a nice place to get away from it all.
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Very cool!!
Its surprising these pictures are allowed to be shown to the public being this is the area where our Alien Overlords have established their landing base.
I look at all those idiots like the J&J heir who died of an overdose-or a Paris Hilton. What a waste. The places I would go, the things I would do, the books I could actually take my time and read instead of racing through, the classic flicks I have piled up in my DVD collection, etc....
Ahh well, I workout and eat right every day-hopefully I'll have a few carefree years.
keep on thinking like that, Matt - that and being around children (I have a 6yo and am 51) is what keeps us young. I’ve been accused of being a big kid in a grown-up’s body, and I happily plead guilty.
And every once in a while, get your nice, fresh wide-eyed wonder at the world behind the wheel of a convertible with some yippee-kieyay under the hood, turn the key over and GO! There’s lots to see out there, and America is the most beautiful of back yards to explore!
JG
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