Antarctic scablands

Abstract

A topography of anastomosing incised channels in dolerite terrain that resembles the remarkable “channelled scablands” of the State of Washington on a smaller scale lies in front of the Upper Wright Glacier, Antarctica. Though its origin has also been attributed to erosion by a catastrophic flood of meltwater, the scabland landscape has probably lesulted from glacial erosion, an alternative explanation that has been proposed also for the channelled scablands of Washington, This explanation has the advantage of avoiding the postulate of avoiding the postulate of a great blood of water through Wright Valley.