Tottanfjella

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Tottanfjella
View of the Johnsonhogna from the southwest

View of the Johnsonhogna from the southwest

Highest peak Johnsonhogna ( 2260  m )
location Dronning Maud Land , East Antarctica
part of Heimefrontfjella
Tottanfjella (Antarctica)
Tottanfjella
Coordinates 75 ° 1 ′  S , 12 ° 19 ′  W Coordinates: 75 ° 1 ′  S , 12 ° 19 ′  W
surface 1,200 km²
dep2
p1
p5

The Tottanfjella is the southernmost part of the Heimefrontfjella in Neuschwabenland . It is separated from the northern parts of Heimefrontfjella by the glacier- filled Kiberdalen. The massifs and nunataks of Tottanfjella cover an area of ​​about 1200 km²; the highest point is the 2260  m high Johnsonhogna . The Tottanfjella is named after the Norwegian expedition ship MV Tottan , which was used on Antarctic expeditions in the 1950s, including the construction of the British Halley station. The mountain range was first visited and surveyed by British expeditions from 1963 to 1966, and detailed geological mapping was carried out in the southern summer of 1993/94 by the German-South African Heimefrontfjella expedition.

geology

see also Geology of Heimefrontfjella

Geological overview map of Heimefrontfjella.

The western part of Tottanfjella consists of granulite facial gneisses and quartzites which are around 1200 mya old and were metamorphosed in the late Mesoproterozoic . These rocks are separated from granites and monzonites by a fault zone, mostly covered by ice , which were repeatedly deformed and metamorphically shaped , most recently in the Cambrian . The crustal boundary between the two sub-areas is clearly visible on aeromagnetic images.

fauna and Flora

Because of the great distance to the open sea, relatively few pairs of the snow petrel ( Pagodroma nivea ) breed in this mountain region. Two types of mite have their type locality in Tottanfjella, one of which was named after this mountain range as Eupodes tottanfjella ; the second species, Norchestes bifurcatus , was also found for the first time in these mountains. Plant life is rare in Tottanfjella and limited to a few locations. Above all, crusty lichens of the genera Lecidea and Alectoria occur.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bauer, W. et al. (1996): Geological expedition to Heimefrontfjella. Reports on polar research '188': 78-88 (PDF; 3.2 MB) accessed on May 2, 2009
  2. ↑ Jacobs, J. et al. (2002): Magnetic susceptibilities of the different tectono-stratigraphic terranes of Heimefrontfjella, western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Polar Research 72: 41-48. (PDF; 2.4 MB)
  3. ↑ Bowra et al. (1966): Biological Investigations in Tottanfjella and Central Heimefrontfjella . Brit. Antarctic Survey Bulletin 9 , pp. 63-70. ( Memento of July 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.0 MB)

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