ALLAN HILLS - DAVID GLACIER REGION INTRODUCTION
The Allan Hills-David Glacier region (covered by the 1:250000 scale U.S.G.S. Convoy Range and Mt. Joyce quadrangle maps) of Southern Victoria Land has been an important source of meteorite specimens since the initial discovery of meteorites at the Allan Hills in the austral summer of 1976-1977 (Cassidy, 1978). Approximately 3400 meteorite specimens have been recovered from icefields in the region. ALH-DAV-Figure 1 (45 KB JPEG) is a Landsat image which shows the major icefields and features in the region.
Most of the collection work in the early years of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) expeditions concentrated on systematic searches of the icefield in the immediate vicinity of the Allan Hills (the Main Icefield), but reconnaissance and subsequent systematic searches of ice patches lying some distance to the west and southwest indicated meteorites in significant numbers. These are geographically distinct from the Main Icefield and are now called the Allan Hills Near Western Icefield, the Allan Hills Middle Western Icefield, and the Allan Hills Far Western Icefield. Reconnaissance of the Reckling Moraine Icefield and Elephant Moraine Icefield in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980, respectively, showed there was good potential for meteorite concentrations at those sites. Subsequent systematic searches there resulted in the recovery of significant numbers of meteorites. In 1982-1983 and 1987-1988, reconnaissance of icefields to the west and north of Elephant Moraine resulted in the discovery of local areas with abundant meteorites now informally referred to as Texas Bowl, Meteorite City, and the Northern Ice Patch. Systematic searches have been conducted at these areas.
Large scale maps of the Allan Hills-David Glacier Region Meteorite Location Map Series have been produced for most of the icefields at which abundant meteorite have been recovered and are currently available. Reduced examples of these maps can be found associated with the respective explanatory texts.
There have been finds of single or limited numbers of meteorites from other locations in the region. One specimen was found mixed in with abundant terrestrial material on ice near Outpost Nunatak. Another specimen was recovered from a small, isolated icefield 15 kilometers north of the Allan Hills Far Western Icefield. During reconnaissance in 1992-1993 two specimens were found on small ice patches north of Beckett Nunatak. North of the Elephant Moraine-Northern Ice Patch, at the head of the David Glacier a total of ten specimens have been recovered from a some of the David Glacier icefields. Four meteorites were discovered on small, isolated ice areas at the head of the Mackay Glacier, southeast of the Far Western Icefield, again during reconnaissance, in 1992-1993. Small scale satellite image maps showing the locations of these meteorites can be found with their respective explanatory texts.
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