ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

Bates Nunataks (80º15'S 153º30'E) are a small, isolated group of three nunataks in the Darwin-Byrd Glacier Region (Darwin-Byrd-Figure 1 - 92 KB JPEG) situated at the northwestern edge of the Byrd Glacier.

During the 1978-1979 field season an ANSMET team made a helicopter-supported reconnaissance search of the ice patches in the vicinity of the nunataks. A total of six specimens, representing four meteorites were recovered (Shiraishi, 1979). No position information or location maps are available for these specimens

A large bare ice area, approximately 20 kilometers north-northwest of Bates Nunataks, was visited during the 2000-2001 season for a period of a few days by a two person reconnaissance party.   An effort was made to visit the entire extent of this icefield in order to assess the nature of the distribution of meteorites.  A total of 11 specimens were recovered.  No significant meteorite concentration was found to be present on this icefield. BTN41-Figure 1 (29 KB JPEG) is an enlarged portion of a Landsat satellite image of the Bates Nunataks area showing the distribution of the meteorites found during the reconnaissance searches in 2000-2001.

BTN41-Table 1 gives a tally of the meteorite types discovered on the Bates Nunataks icefields.

Acknowledgments; 1978-1979 ANSMET field party members conducting reconnaissance searches at Bates Nunataks were Dean Clauter, Ursula Marvin, and Kazuyuki Shiraishi.  The 2000-2001 reconnaissance team consisted of Ben Bussey and Ralph Harvey.

Traverse to the Bates Nunataks Meteorite Listing (136 KB with meteorite photos)

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