Denman Glacier | |
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Location of Denman Glacier in Antarctica | |
Type | tributary |
Location | Queen Mary Land |
Coordinates | 66°45′S 99°30′E / 66.750°S 99.500°E |
Length | 110 km (70 mi) |
Width | 16 km (10 mi) |
Thickness | unknown |
Terminus | Shackleton Ice Shelf |
Status | unknown |
Denman Glacier is a glacier that is 11 to 16 km (7 to 10 mi) wide, descending north some 110 km (70 mi), which debouches into the Shackleton Ice Shelf east of David Island, Queen Mary Land. It was discovered in November 1912 by the Western Base party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson. Mawson named the glacier for Lord Denman, Governor-General of Australia in 1911, a patron of the expedition.[1]
The canyon under Denman Glacier has been found by the BedMachine Antarctica project (under the leadership of the University of California, Irvine)[2] to be the deepest natural location on land (or at least not under liquid water) worldwide, with the bedrock being 3,500 m (11,500 ft) below sea level.[3][4]
Calving of Denman Glacier into the Mawson Sea gives rise to the periodically appearing Pobeda Ice Island.