Traverse to the Roberts Massif Meteorite Listing
Roberts Massif
The Roberts Massif (85º 32' S 177º 00' W) meteorite locality is at the eastern end of the Beardmore region of meteorite sites. The Roberts Massif is seizable nunatak situated at the junction of the Shackleton and Zaneveld glaciers. A large area of blue ice is present as flows northward off the polar plateau and terminates against the Roberts Massif. Another long, narrow stretch of bare ice to the southeast is associated with an ice escarpment and the occasional surficial moraine and small nunatak. RBT72-Figure 1 (290 KB JPEG) is an enlarged portion of the Liv Glacier U.S.G.S. map showing the Roberts Massif area. RBT72-Figure 2 (160 KB JPEG) is a vertical aerial photo mosaic of the bare ice area around the Roberts Massif Nunatak. RBT72-Figure 3 (176 KB JPEG) is a vertical aerial photo mosaic of the moraines of icefield southeast of the nunatak, while RBT72-Figure 4 (153 KB JPEG) is an oblique view to to the south. This icefield is associated with and escarpment running southward and is some 16 kilometers in length.
During the 2003-2004 field season the reconnaissance and coarse systematic searches of the ice immediately upstream of Roberts Massif yielded 18 meteorites. A single specimen was found on a quick visit to the icefield southeast of the massif. An ANSMET reconnaissance team returned to the area during the 2004-2005 season. They concentrated their search efforts on the ice southeast of the nunatak where the one meteorite had been found the previous season. The area was searched over a 5 day period resulting in 210 meteorite recoveries. Most of the meteorites were found in, around, and in close proximity to the moraines at the north end of the icefield. Most of the meteorites were found associated with abundant terrestrial rock on the ice surface. Several widely separated specimens were found to the south of the moraines.
RBT72-Table 1 gives the types of meteorites found at the Roberts Massif icefields.
Acknowledgments; The 2003-2004 ANSMET field team consisted of Gretchen Benedix, Erika Eschholz, Monika Kress, and John Schutt. The 2004-2005 team was made up of Nancy Chabot, Yulia Goreva, James Karner, and John Schutt.
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