ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

This area is near the northwestern end of the Beardmore region of meteorite sites. The Miller Range is a block of nunataks lying between the Marsh Glacier on the south and the Nimrod Glacier on the north. Figure MIL80-Figure 1 (113 KB JPEG) is an enlarged portion of the 1:250000 scale U.S.G.S. Mount Rabot quadrangle, which covers the Miller Range area. Extensive bare ice areas are present outboard of the nunataks as well as small ice patches and bare ice areas adjacent to the nunataks and on sections of the small valley glaciers flowing through the Miller Range. Figure MIL80-Figure 2 (129 KB JPEG) is a low resolution ASTER satellite image mosaic of the area.

During the 1985-1986 field season some of the icefields near the upper reaches of the Nimrod Glacier around Milan Ridge were investigated (Cassidy 1992). The single specimen discovered during the 1985 season was found during a brief visit by helicopter. The area was again visited by a small reconnaissance party during the 1999-2000 season. Using snowmobiles, they were able to survey a large amount of bare ice in a couple of days, and recover 31 meteorite specimens. In the 2003-2004 season an ANSMET field party conducted a more far ranging reconnaissance survey of the Miller Range icefields. A total of 113 additional specimens were recovered from several different, widely spaced icefield sites. Dedicated systematic searching of the Miller Range Icefields was begun during the 2005-2006 season. But owing to difficult weather condtions (too much wind, then too much snow, then too little wind) only 166 specimens were recovered.

A sketch map of this area with the location of the 1985 specimen is shown in MIL80-Figure 3 (35 KB JPEG) (adapted from Cassidy, 1992).

MIL80-Table 1 gives the types of meteorites recovered from the Miller Range icefields.

Acknowledgments; William Cassidy, Peter Englert, Twyla Thomas, and Carl Thompson conducted the 1985-1986 reconnaissance searches. Ralph Harvey and Rene Martinez performed the searches during the 1999-2000 season. The 2003-2004 ANSMET field team consisted of Nancy Chabot, Monika Kress, Gordon Osinski, and John Schutt. The 2005-2006 ANSMET team members were Joe Boesenberg, Ben Bussey, Ralph Harvey, Marie Keiding, Mike Kelley, Shaun Norman, Gordon Osinski, Jani Radebaugh, and Mike Rampey.

Traverse to the Miller Range Meteorite Listing (303 KB - With meteorite photos)

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