The McMurdo Volcanic Group is a large group of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the western Ross Sea and central Transantarctic Mountains areas of Antarctica. It is one of the largest provinces of alkaline volcanism in the world, having formed as a result of continental rifting along the West Antarctic Rift System. The McMurdo Volcanic Group is part of the Western Ross Supergroup, a stratigraphic unit that also includes the Meander Intrusive Group.
Coulman Island in the Ross Sea is part of the Hallett Volcanic Province.
Mount Melbourne seen from the ice-covered Ross Sea. It is part of the Melbourne Volcanic Province.
Mount Erebus on Ross Island is part of the Erebus Volcanic Province.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ice from nearby glaciers. The rocks here are granites and gneisses, and glacial tills dot this bedrock landscape, with loose gravel covering the ground. It is one of the driest places on Earth and is sometimes claimed to have not seen rain in nearly two million years, though this is highly unlikely and several anecdotal accounts of rainfall within the Dry Valleys exist.
McMurdo Dry Valleys, Landsat 7 imagery acquired on December 18, 1999.
ASTER image of the Dry Valleys.
Mummified seal carcass
Field camp of scientists during the Antarctic summer, c. 1965
