Butcher Ridge

Butcher Ridge (79°12′S 155°48′E) is a large, mainly ice-free ridge near the polar plateau in the west part of the Cook Mountains. The ridge is in the form of an arc, extending northwest from Mount Ayres.[1] The Ridge peaks at 2,003 meters (6,572 feet). It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Commander H.K. Butcher, U.S. Navy, air operations officer on the Staff of the U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, during U.S. Navy Operation Deepfreeze 1963 and 1964.[2]

Geology

Butcher Ridge is a deeply eroded silicic igneous intrusion. It consists of a hypabyssal intrusion that contains rhythmically layered glassy rocks and plutonic rocks that vary in composition from basaltic andesite to rhyolite." U-Pb dating of baddeleyite from the Butcher Ridge yielded an age of about 182.4 Myr. This age confirms that this igneous complex was emplaced contemporaneously with the Ferrar large igneous province.[3]

Faure and Mensing[1] argue that the glassy and pseudo-volcanic rocks that compose the majority of the Butcher Ridge igneous complex are incompatible with it being a hypabyssal intrusion. Based on this and together with an associated strong magnetic anomaly and other features, they concluded that the Butcher Ridge igneous complex should be seriously investigated as a possible asteroid impact structure.

See also

References
  1. Faure, G., and Mensing, T. M., 2010. The Transantarctic Mountains Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water. Germany, Heidelberg, Springer Dordrecht. 804 pp. ISBN 978-1-4020-8406-5
  2. "Butcher Ridge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  3. Nelson, D.A., Cottle, J.M. and Schoene, B., 2019. Butcher Ridge igneous complex: A glassy layered silicic magma distribution center in the Ferrar large igneous province, Antarctic. Antarctica. Bulletin, 132(5-6), pp.1201-1216.


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