Transantarctic Mountains

views updated

Transantarctic Mountains, mountain chain stretching across Antarctica from Victoria Land to Coats Land; separating the E Antarctic and W Antarctic subcontinents. Mt. Markham (14,275 ft/4,351 m high), near the Ross Ice Shelf, is the highest peak. Its basement rocks, similar to rocks found in Australia, S Africa, and South America, give credibility to the theory of continental drift.