 | Aerial view of Mount Murphy from the west (U.S. Navy photo) <click to enlarge> |
Mount Murphy
8868 ft (2703 m) . |
||
| Location: | Eastern Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica | ||
| Lat / Long: | 75.3° S, 110.7° W | ||
| Volcanic Type: | Dissected shield volcano | ||
| Volcanic Status: | Dormant / extinct | ||
| First Ascent: | |||
| First Ski Descent: | |||
| Skiable Vertical: | over 8000 ft (2400 m) | ||
| Mount Murphy is yet another large Marie Byrd Land shield volcano, yet its current form is far different from any of the others. Instead of presenting the uneroded constructional form of most of the other volcanoes, even those well over 10 million years old, Mount Murphy has been deeply dissected by erosion since it was formed about 8 million years ago. The reason for this is simple, that Mount Murphy is located directly on the Antarctic coast where the rate of erosion is much greater than at inland locations. The interior has a desert-like environment along with a very thick and stable ice sheet which surrounds and protects the bases of the volcanoes, while at the coast the precipitation is higher and the ice sheet extends only to about 2500 ft (800 m) above sea level on the southern side of the volcano and 600 ft (200 m) on the seaward northern side. The steep snow-and-ice faces of Mount Murphy which rise sheerly as much as 6000 ft (1800 m) above the ice sheet should offer a number of challenging climbs and ski descents. | |||
 |
Some useful links: United States Antarctic Resource Center USGS Atlas of Antarctic Research (online maps & photos) |
||
| Topographic map of Mount Murphy (1:250,000 scale) from USGS Mount Murphy <click to enlarge> |
|||
More photos and info about routes, access, etc. may be added in the future ... |
|||