
Next to the gargantuan Airdevronsix icefall is located one more giant icefall – the 920 m wide and 400 m tall Warren icefall.
Just like Airdevonsrix icefall, Warren icefall has formed in a location where the giant East Antarctic ice sheet pours (because ice is slow-flowing liquid) in McMurdo Dry Valleys. Here a dolerite sill (intrusion of sturdy rocks) in the Jurassic period broke through the Devonian – Triassic sandstone. This hard rock resists to the force of glaciers and as a result, has formed this giant step with 400 m tall, vertical wall.
Upper rim of falls is at the height of 1,550 m above the sea level. Lower reaches of icefall are not even but in general are some 1150 above the sea level – thus the assumed height of icefall is approximately 400 m.
Airdevronsix icefalls together with Warren falls form one of the most magnificent sights on our planet.
Images
- GigaPan image by Zbigniew Malolepszy, 2010. Warren Icefall is seen in the left side.
References
- Jackie Grom, Ancient Ecosystem Discovered Beneath Antarctic Glacier. Science, April 16, 2009.
Warren Icefall on the map
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Location, GPS coordinates: | 77.5567 S 160.4328 E |
Categories: | Waterfalls |
Values: | Geology, Visual |
Rating: | |
Where is located? | Antarctic and Sub-antarctic region, Antarctica, East Antarctica, Victoria Land, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Wright Valley, Wright Upper Glacier, to the south-east from Airdevronsix icefall between Mt. Fleming and Mt. Baldr |
Height: | ˜ 400 m |
Width: | ˜ 920 m |
Glacier: | Wright Upper Glacier |