Vestfold Hills


The Vestfold Hills are rounded, rocky, coastal hills, in extent, on the north side of Sorsdal Glacier on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. The hills are subdivided by three west-trending peninsulas bounded by narrow fjords. Most of the hills range between in height, with the highest summit reaching nearly.

Geography

The Vestfold Hills are largely snow and ice-free and are thus classified as an Antarctic oasis. They contain a great variety of lake systems with over 300 lakes and ponds including what is possibly the largest concentration of meromictic lakes in the world. This region contains 37 permanently stratified water bodies, including six marine basins and seven seasonally isolated marine basins. These stratified basins also have great variety. They range in salinity from 4 g L−1 to 235 g L−1, in temperature from, in depth from, in area from and surface level from below to above sea level. The region contains a large lake, Lake Burton, as well as the smaller Krok Lake.

History and naming

The Vestfold Hills were discovered and a landing was made in the northern portion on February 20, 1935, by Captain Klarius Mikkelsen together with his wife and seven crew members of the Norwegian whaling ship "Thorshavn" sent out by Lars Christensen. Mrs Caroline Mikkelsen thereby became the first woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent.
The Vestfold Hills are named after Vestfold, a county in Norway where Sandefjord, headquarters of the whaling industry, is located. This hill area and its off-lying islands were mapped from air photos taken by the Lars Christensen Expedition. Further brief landings were made by Lincoln Ellsworth and several claims made by Hubert Wilkins in 1939. and the area was photographed from the air by USN Operation Highjump. Landings were made and exploration carried out in 1954 and 1955 by ANARE led by Phillip Law. Davis Station was established by ANARE in January 1957.
, in the snow-covered Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.