ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

The icefields in the vicinity of Mt. Cecily (85º52'S 174º15'E) and Mt. Raymond have proven to be the most important of the meteorite sites in the Grosvenor Mountains. These nunataks are the southern most rock exposures in the Beardmore region (GRO-Figure 1- 85 KB JPEG). Throughout the area there are extensive exposed ice patches. These icefields are mainly situated below the north-south trending escarpment with ice of the Mill Glacier flowing northward west of the nunataks. Marginal ice appears to be pushing up and stagnating against the bedrock while local ice masses from cirques and the nearby ice divide try to compete with the major ice drainage of the Mill Glacier. GRO61-Figure 1 (245 KB JPEG) is an oblique aerial view of the area from the northwest. GRO61-Figure 2 (61 KB JPEG) is an enlarged portion of the U.S.G.S. 1:250000 scale Plunket Point quadrangle. GRO61-Figure 3 (63 KB JPEG) is an air photo mosaic of the area ( U.S.G.S. air photo mosaic by Nancy Chabot).

Reconnaissance by an ANSMET field party recovered 13 specimens from the Mt. Cecily and Mt. Raymond area during the 1985-1986 expedition. Their traverse and locations of meteorites from that season is shown on GRO61-Figure 4 (44KB JPEG) (adapted from Cassidy 1992). Finally, 10 years later, systematic searches of the icefields were undertaken. The 1995-1996 field party concentrated their search efforts on the icefields north of Mt. Emily, on the ice tongue between Mt. Emily and Mt. Cecily, and over the large icefield west of Mt. Cecily. A limited amount of time was spent in the area of the 1985 finds south of Mt. Raymond.

The 1995-1996 field party collected 151 meteorite specimens from the area during their searches. Searching was made difficult by the fact that the ice surface is littered with dark terrestrial rocks, blown out on to the ice from the nearby outcrop and moraines. Most of the meteorites were found in the vicinity of the most abundant finds from the 1985 collection. Several meteorites were found in moderately heavy moraine at the end of the Emily-Cecily ice tongue, which is down wind of exposed ice. But a number of specimens were discovered at the moraine margins and within the moraine, which trails off from Mt. Emily, where no upwind ice is present.

GRO61-Table 1 is a tabulation of the meteorite types recovered from the Mt. Cecily - Mt. Raymond area.

Acknowledgments; ANSMET field party members during the 1985-1986 season were William Cassidy, Peter Englert, Twyla Thomas, and Carl Thompson. Field members of the 1995-1996 party included Steve Dunbar, Ralph Harvey, Pascal Lee, Anders Meibom, and John Schutt.

Traverse to the Mt.Cecily - Mt. Raymond Icefields Meteorite Listing

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