User:Jsharpminor/James Ross Island

James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to 1630 m, it is irregularly shaped and extends 40 mi in a north–south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld, who named it for Sir James Clark Ross, the leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842 that discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The form James Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.

It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of that continent.

The island was connected to the Antarctic mainland by an ice shelf until 1995, when the ice shelf collapsed, making the Prince Gustav Channel passable for the first time.

Mendel Polar Station, the first Czech Antarctic Base, is located on the island.

Paleontology
Two dinosaur-bearing formations are present on the island, both from the Upper Cretaceous: the Santa Marta Formation and the Snow Hill Island Formation. These are two of only three known formations to have dinosaur fossils in Antarctica.

The first dinosaur ever discovered in Antarctica was Antarctopelta oliveroi, a medium-sized ankylosaur found on James Ross Island by Argentinian geologists Eduardo Olivero and Roberto Scasso in 1986. The dinosaur was recovered from the Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous Santa Marta Formation, about 2 km south of Santa Marta Cove on the north part of the island. The ankylosaur was not formally named until 2006.

In December 2003, U.S. paleontologist Judd Case from Saint Mary's College of California and U.S. geologist James Martin from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology discovered the bones of a theropod dinosaur on the island. Nicknamed "Naze" after the northerly Naze Peninsula on which it was found, the Late Cretaceous remains include an upper jaw and teeth, and most of the lower legs and feet. Little information is available, but the shape of the leg and feet indicate it was a runner, and the size indicates it was probably 1.8 m tall and weighed 135 kg. This is the second Antarctic theropod discovered, after Cryolophosaurus.

Landforms

 * Abernethy Flats (-63.86667°N, -57.9°W) is a gravel plain cut by braided streams at the head of Brandy Bay. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1983 after Thomas Abernethy, gunner on HMS Erebus during exploration of these waters in 1842–43.
 * Back Mesa (-64.03333°N, -58.2°W) is an ice-covered, flat-topped mountain with rock exposures, 740 m high, located east of Hidden Lake on the Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island, Antarctica. Following British Antarctic Survey geological work, 1985–86, it was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Dr. Eric H. Back, Lieutenant Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, medical officer on Operation Tabarin at Port Lockroy, 1943–44, and Hope Bay, 1944–45.
 * Barker Bank (-64.01667°N, -57.01667°W) is a marine bank in Erebus and Terror Gulf with a least depth of 20 m. The bank extends northeast from Ula Point, James Ross Island, but its limits are not precisely defined. It was charted from HMS Endurance, 1981–82, and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Captain Nicholas J. Barker, Royal Navy, who was in command of the ship, 1980–82.
 * Blancmange Hill -64°N, -57.66667°W is an outstanding ice-free coastal landmark located 3 nmi northeast of Stark Point on the east side of Croft Bay, James Ross Island. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee following Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey surveys taken 1958–61. The name is descriptive since the feature resembles a blancmange.