ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

The Taylor Glacier descends off the plateau and abruptly ends in the Taylor Valley. Considerable bare ice is present at the lower elevations of the glacier. The first meteorites found by ANSMET in 1976 was discovered near the base of Mt. Baldr. In 1982, while waiting to join the ANSMET field party in the Allan Hills area, an ANSMET team member spent a short time looking for meteorites on the Taylor Glacier. One specimen was recovered from the bare ice at an unknown location on the Taylor Glacier.

During the 2005-2006 field season an ANSMET team spent a several days searching the bare ice of the Taylor Glacier system. Traverses were made over the Cassidy Glacier, a tributary entering the Taylor Glacier from the south, as well as relatively small ice areas in the upper Taylor Glacier and the large expanses of ice around Depot Nunatak and stretching down glacier. Only two meteorite specimens were found as a result of these searches. Many rocks on the Cassidy Glacier and on the Taylor Glacier below Depot Nunatak were melted into the ice, therefore decreasing the opportunity for finding meteorites.

Figure 94-1 (180 KB JPEG) is an ASTER satellite image of the Taylor Glacier area with the sites of the two 2005 meteorites indicated and the tracks of the search traverses (ASTER image courtesy of Mike Wyatt).

The specimens recovered from the Taylor Glacier are given in the listing below.

Acknowledgments; Vagn Buchwald conducted the 1982 search. The 2005-2006 field team consisted of Mary-Sue Bell, Graciela Matrajt, John Schutt, and Mike Wyatt.

Listing of meteorites from the Mount Taylor Glacier Area - 1996 and 2005 collections.

METEORITE                   WEIGHT
  NAME     CLASSIFICATION    (g)  Newsletter
---------------------------------------------
TYR 82700  L4 CHONDRITE     892.1    7(1)
TYR 05180  L5 CHONDRITE     244.2   29(2)
TYR 05181  IRON-IIE         544.1   30(2)

Traverse back to the Table of Contents

Traverse back to the Dry Valleys Region Introduction