Queen Mary Land

Queen Mary Land 

(Queen Mary Coast), part of Eastern Antarctica between 92° 03’ and 100° 04’ E long. It borders Whilhelm II Land on the west and Wilkes Land on the east. Its coastal regions are washed by the Davis and Mawson seas. Almost all of Queen Mary Land is covered by an ice sheet that rises steeply inland to an elevation of 2,500-3,000 m. There are insignificant outcroppings of bedrock along the coast. The region was discovered in 1912 by the Australian antarctic expedition of D. Mawson and named in honor of the British queen.

The Soviet observatory Mirnyi has been in operation here since Feb. 13, 1956; from 1956 to 1959 the first inland antarctic station, Pionerskaia, was also in operation.