Hydrography of the Tierney Basin, Vestvold Hills, Antarctica

Simon Townsend and HR Burton - Australian Antarctic Division , 01 October, 1990

Freshwater drainage systems are found in the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land and the Bunger Hills, Prince Charles Mountains and Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica. Whilst the hydrography of the Onyx River in the Dry Valleys has been well studied (see Chinn, 1981), little has been published on other drainage systems. The Vestfold Hills, a large (410 km2) ice-free rock outcrop in East Antarctica, features the Tierney drainage basin. This paper describes the hydrography of the basin and collates data and observations made by Australian Antarctic expeditioners and compares the drainage system to others in Antarctica.