ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

An ice escarpment, with extensive bare ice areas, extends westward from Reckling Peak (76º16'S 159º15'E) for over 100 kilometers (ALH-DAV-Figure 1- 46 KB JPEG). An isolated surficial moraine, not associated with any nearby outcropping bedrock, is situated 16 kilometers west of Reckling Peak and is referred to as Reckling Moraine. The occurrence is similar to Elephant Moraine 40 kilometers to the west. The icefield surrounding the moraine is thus known as the Reckling Moraine Icefield. Bare ice is exposed along for nearly 20 kilometers along the escarpment and is up to 7 kilometers at its widest. RKP13-Figure 1 (38 KB JPEG) is an enlarged portion of a Landsat satellite image of the Reckling Moraine Icefield. RKP13-Figure 2 (16 KB JPEG) is an aerial view of the moraine from the west.

A geological field party, traversing through the area during the 1978-79 field season, discovered 5 meteorites (Kyle, 1979). A brief reconnaissance visit during the 1979-1980 season confirmed that there were additional meteorites that could be recovered by systematic searching. They collected 15 specimens that season (Cassidy, 1980). In the following season, much of the ice surface in the vicinity of the moraine and in the main basin west of the moraine was systematically searched (Cassidy and Annexstad, 1981). Total of 73 meteorites were returned. A field party working at Reckling Moraine during the 1987-1988 season recovered 6 meteorites from close proximity of the south edge of the moraine (Faure et al., 1987). The 1992-1993 ANSMET field party revisited the area for the purpose of assessing the potential for meteorites on the western half of the icefield, which had never been searched, and to try and determine the position of base stations used for the reference grid for the survey of the 1980-1981 meteorites. An additional 47 meteorites were recovered from the previously searched area and during reconnaissance of the unsearched area to the west.

RKP13-Table 1 gives a tabulation of meteorite types recovered from the Reckling Moraine Icefield.

Acknowledgments; We thank Phil Kyle, Bill Macintosh, and Harry Keys, for their contribution to the meteorite collection of the specimens they discovered during the 1978-1979 season. The meteorites and field data collected by the group led by Gunter Faure are much appreciated. ANSMET field party members were John Annexstad, Lee Benda, William Cassidy, and Louis Rancitelli (1979-1980); John Annexstad, William Cassidy, Harry McSween, Louis Rancitelli, Ludolf Schultz, and John Schutt (1980-1981); Jerry Delaney, Ralph Harvey, Sue Iveson, Peter Mouginis-Mark, John Schutt, and Meenakshi Wadhwa (1992-1993).

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