McMurdo Dry Valleys, Victoria Land, Eastern Antarctica, Antarcticai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| McMurdo Dry Valleys | - not defined - |
| Victoria Land | Region |
| Eastern Antarctica | Region |
| Antarctica | Continent |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
77° 28' South , 162° 31' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Köppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
274223
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:274223:9
GUID (UUID V4):
5387f091-c8c9-4f2e-ba9d-cf3a94f23cc2
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.
The region is one of the world's most extreme deserts and includes many features including Lake Vida, a saline lake, and the Onyx River, a meltwater stream and Antarctica's longest river. Although no living organisms have been found in the permafrost here, endolithic photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in the relatively moist interior of rocks and anaerobic bacteria, with a metabolism based on iron and sulfur, live under the Taylor Glacier. [Wikipedia]
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsMineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities13 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities
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Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Anorthite Formula: Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite Formula: (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| ⓘ Blödite Formula: Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| ⓘ Burkeite Formula: Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| ⓘ Calcite Formula: CaCO3 |
| ⓘ 'Clinopyroxene Subgroup' |
| ⓘ Darapskite Formula: Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| ⓘ 'Fayalite-Forsterite Series' |
| ⓘ 'Glass' |
| ⓘ Glauberite Formula: Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| ⓘ Gypsum Formula: CaSO4 · 2H2O Localities: |
| ⓘ Halite Formula: NaCl Localities: References: |
| ⓘ Hydrohalite Formula: NaCl · 2H2O |
| ⓘ Ice Formula: H2O |
| ⓘ Mirabilite Formula: Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| ⓘ Thénardite Formula: Na2SO4 Localities: References: |
| ⓘ Trona Formula: Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| ⓘ 'UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa' Formula: Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 3 - Halides | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Halite | 3.AA.20 | NaCl |
| ⓘ | Hydrohalite | 3.BA.05 | NaCl · 2H2O |
| Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
| ⓘ | Ice | 4.AA.05 | H2O |
| Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
| ⓘ | Calcite | 5.AB.05 | CaCO3 |
| ⓘ | Trona | 5.CB.15 | Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
| ⓘ | Thénardite | 7.AD.25 | Na2SO4 |
| ⓘ | Glauberite | 7.AD.25 | Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| ⓘ | Burkeite | 7.BD.25 | Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| ⓘ | Blödite | 7.CC.50 | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| ⓘ | Mirabilite | 7.CD.10 | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| ⓘ | Gypsum | 7.CD.40 | CaSO4 · 2H2O |
| ⓘ | Darapskite | 7.DG.05 | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| Group 9 - Silicates | |||
| ⓘ | Anorthite | 9.FA.35 | Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| ⓘ | var. Labradorite | 9.FA.35 | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| Unclassified | |||
| ⓘ | 'Clinopyroxene Subgroup' | - | |
| ⓘ | 'Fayalite-Forsterite Series' | - | |
| ⓘ | 'Glass' | - | |
| ⓘ | 'UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa' | - | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | ⓘ Blödite | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| H | ⓘ Darapskite | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| H | ⓘ Gypsum | CaSO4 · 2H2O |
| H | ⓘ Hydrohalite | NaCl · 2H2O |
| H | ⓘ Ice | H2O |
| H | ⓘ Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| H | ⓘ Trona | Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| H | ⓘ UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
| C | Carbon | |
| C | ⓘ Burkeite | Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| C | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
| C | ⓘ Trona | Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| N | Nitrogen | |
| N | ⓘ Darapskite | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | ⓘ Anorthite | Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| O | ⓘ Blödite | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| O | ⓘ Burkeite | Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| O | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
| O | ⓘ Darapskite | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| O | ⓘ Glauberite | Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| O | ⓘ Gypsum | CaSO4 · 2H2O |
| O | ⓘ Hydrohalite | NaCl · 2H2O |
| O | ⓘ Ice | H2O |
| O | ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| O | ⓘ Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| O | ⓘ Thénardite | Na2SO4 |
| O | ⓘ Trona | Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| O | ⓘ UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
| Na | Sodium | |
| Na | ⓘ Blödite | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| Na | ⓘ Burkeite | Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| Na | ⓘ Darapskite | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| Na | ⓘ Glauberite | Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| Na | ⓘ Halite | NaCl |
| Na | ⓘ Hydrohalite | NaCl · 2H2O |
| Na | ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| Na | ⓘ Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| Na | ⓘ Thénardite | Na2SO4 |
| Na | ⓘ Trona | Na3H(CO3)2 · 2H2O |
| Na | ⓘ UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
| Mg | Magnesium | |
| Mg | ⓘ Blödite | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| Al | Aluminium | |
| Al | ⓘ Anorthite | Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| Al | ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | ⓘ Anorthite | Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| Si | ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| S | Sulfur | |
| S | ⓘ Blödite | Na2Mg(SO4)2 · 4H2O |
| S | ⓘ Burkeite | Na6(CO3)(SO4)2 |
| S | ⓘ Darapskite | Na3(SO4)(NO3) · H2O |
| S | ⓘ Glauberite | Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| S | ⓘ Gypsum | CaSO4 · 2H2O |
| S | ⓘ Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
| S | ⓘ Thénardite | Na2SO4 |
| S | ⓘ UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
| Cl | Chlorine | |
| Cl | ⓘ Halite | NaCl |
| Cl | ⓘ Hydrohalite | NaCl · 2H2O |
| Ca | Calcium | |
| Ca | ⓘ Anorthite | Ca(Al2Si2O8) |
| Ca | ⓘ Calcite | CaCO3 |
| Ca | ⓘ Glauberite | Na2Ca(SO4)2 |
| Ca | ⓘ Gypsum | CaSO4 · 2H2O |
| Ca | ⓘ Anorthite var. Labradorite | (Ca,Na)[Al(Al,Si)Si2O8] |
| Ca | ⓘ UM1983-16-SO:CaHNa | Na2Ca2(SO4)3 · 3H2O |
Geochronology
Mineralization age: Cenozoic : 4.76 Ma to 1.57 MaImportant note: This table is based only on rock and mineral ages recorded on mindat.org for this locality and is not necessarily a complete representation of the geochronology, but does give an indication of possible mineralization events relevant to this locality. As more age information is added this table may expand in the future. A break in the table simply indicates a lack of data entered here, not necessarily a break in the geologic sequence. Grey background entries are from different, related, localities.
| Geologic Time | Rocks, Minerals and Events | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phanerozoic | |||||||
| Cenozoic | |||||||
| Quaternary | |||||||
| Pleistocene |
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| Neogene | |||||||
| Pliocene |
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Other Databases
| Wikipedia: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Dry_Valleys |
|---|---|
| Wikidata ID: | Q571433 |
Localities in this Region
- Eastern Antarctica
- Victoria Land
- McMurdo Dry Valleys
- Victoria Land
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Antarctic MeteoritesGroup of Meteorite Fall Locations
Antarctic PlateTectonic Plate
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References
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