Limestone Valley

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Limestone Valley ( 60°42′S45°37′W / 60.700°S 45.617°W / -60.700; -45.617 Coordinates: 60°42′S45°37′W / 60.700°S 45.617°W / -60.700; -45.617 ) is a valley extending northwest from Cemetery Bay, Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The valley leads directly to Jane Col and serves as a route to the west coast of the island. It was so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee because of an exposure of limestone in the cliff above the valley. [1]

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

Cemetery Bay is a shallow southwest arm of Borge Bay, lying immediately below Orwell Glacier along the east coast of Signy Island. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in association with the whalers' graves on the east side of the feature.

Signy Island

Signy Island is a small subantarctic island in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. It was named by the Norwegian whaler Petter Sørlle after his wife Signy Therese.

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Changing Lake is the central of three lakes in Paternoster Valley in northeastern Signy Island. This proglacial lake was so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee because the lake slowly changes shape and size as the retaining land ice gradually retreats.

Cockscomb Buttress is a prominent, isolated rock buttress rising to 465 metres (1,530 ft), standing 1 nautical mile (2 km) northwest of Echo Mountain and overlooking the east side of Norway Bight on the south coast of Coronation Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The name, which is descriptive, was given by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey following their survey of 1950.

The Wallows is a low-lying area 0.3 nautical miles (0.6 km) south of Berry Head in the northeast part of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The area is sheltered by low ridges on all sides and has a small freshwater pond in the center. Roughly surveyed in 1933 by DI personnel and resurveyed in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS). The name given by the FIDS arose because the bulk of moulting elephant seals on Signy Island wallow here in the summer.

Waterpipe Beach is a flat shingle beach on the west side of Borge Bay, Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. Surveyed in 1933 by DI personnel. Resurveyed and named in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS). An old pipe line from a pumping station by Pumphouse Lake, the southernmost lake in Three Lakes Valley, leads down to this beach and was used by the Tonsberg Hvalfangeri for watering whaling vessels during the period 1920-30.

Cruyt Spur

Cruyt Spur is a rocky spur 4 nautical miles (7 km) northeast of Ruth Ridge and 3.85 miles (6.20 km) north-northeast of Papiya Nunatak, extending 2 nautical miles (4 km) southeast from the south wall of Detroit Plateau, on the Nordenskjöld Coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It is surmounting Aleksiev Glacier to the northeast and Kladorub Glacier to the southwest. The spur was mapped from surveys by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (1960–61), and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for William Cruyt, a Belgian army engineer who designed the first "auto-polaire" in 1907.

Jane Col is a col to the west of Jane Peak at the head of Limestone Valley on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. It was named in association with Jane Peak by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee.

Knob Lake is the central lake in Three Lakes Valley in northeast Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The name was given to the lake by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee because there is a glacier-scoured rock knob forming a small island near the south end of the lake.

Stygian Cove is a cove immediately west of Berry Head in the north part of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. On its west side steep rock cliffs rise to Robin Peak. Roughly surveyed in 1912–13 by Petter Sørlle, Norwegian whaling captain, and again in 1933 by DI personnel. Resurveyed and named in 1947 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS). The cove was named because it is so overshadowed by the cliffs of Robin Peak that a sense of stygian gloom is felt.

Pumphouse Lake is the southernmost lake in Three Lakes Valley on Signy Island. So named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) because of the abandoned pumphouse and pipeline on the east side of the lake which was built by whalers.

Elephant Flats is a mud flat along the shore between Cemetery Bay and Marble Knolls on the east side of Signy Island. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after the elephant seals that frequent the flat.

Paternoster Valley is a valley extending southwestward from Stygian Cove in northern Signy Island. So named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) from the occurrence of three small paternoster lakes, including Changing Lake, at different levels in the valley.

Moraine Valley is a valley filled with morainic debris, 0.75 nautical miles (1.4 km) long, which drains north into Elephant Flats on the east side of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. In summer a stream, fed by the ice slopes at its south end, runs in this valley. It was named by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey following their survey of 1947.

Moss Lake is the southernmost lake in Paternoster Valley on Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. It was so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee because a luxuriant stand of moss covers the deeper part of the lake.

Heywood Lake is the northernmost lake in Three Lakes Valley in northeastern Signy Island, Antarctica. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee after Ronald B. Heywood, a limnologist with the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey, who worked on Signy Island in 1962–63 and 1970–71.

The Marble Knolls are low marble knolls which lie near the shore of Borge Bay, just southwest of Waterpipe Beach, in eastern Signy Island, Antarctica. The descriptive name was applied by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1974.

Starfish Cove is a small cove close north of Balin Point on the east side of Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. Roughly surveyed in 1933 by DI personnel. So named by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), following their survey of 1947, because of the large number of starfish in the bottom fauna.

Tern Cove is a small cove, the entrance to which is blocked by submerged rocks, lying immediately southeast of Berry Head in the north part of Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The cove contains three small islands, and an area near the head dries at low water. Roughly charted in 1933 by DI personnel. Named by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), following their survey of 1947, for the colony of terns on the southernmost island in the cove.

Three Lakes Valley (South Orkney Islands)

Three Lakes Valley is a low valley containing three freshwater lakes, extending from the vicinity of Elephant Flats northward to Stygian Cove on Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands. The three lakes, from north to south, are Heywood Lake, Knob Lake, and Pumphouse Lake.

Berry Head is the point which forms the division between Tern Cove and Stygian Cove on the NE side of Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. The name appears on the chart by DI personnel on the RRS Discovery II resulting from their survey in 1933.

References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Limestone Valley" (content from the Geographic Names Information System ).

United States Geological Survey Scientific agency of the United States government

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.

Geographic Names Information System geographical database

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.