Wilkes Land

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Wilkes Land

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
, formally claimed by Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory

Australian Antarctic Territory

The Australian Antarctic Territory is the part of Antarctica claimed by Australia and is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation....
, though the validity of this claim has been placed in abeyance for the period of the operation of the Antarctic Treaty, to which Australia is a signatory.

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Encyclopedia

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica

Antarctica

Australia

Australian Antarctic Territory

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
between Queen Mary Coast

Queen Mary Coast

Queen Mary Coast is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Cape Filchner, in 91? 54' E, and Cape Hordern, at 100? 30' E. It was discovered in February 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Douglas Mawson, who named it for Mary of Teck, queen consort of George V of the United Kingdom....
and Adelie Land

Adélie Land

Ad?lie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between Pourquoi Pas Point at and Point Alden at , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a Circular sector about 2,600 km toward the South Pole....
, extending from Cape Hordern

Cape Hordern

Cape Hordern is an ice-free cape, overlain by morainic drift, at the northwest end of the Bunger Hills in Antarctica. Probably sighted from Watson Bluff by A.L....
in 100°31' E to Pourquoi Pas Point

Pourquoi Pas Point

Pourquoi Pas is an ice-covered point which forms the west side of the entrance to Victor Bay. Charted by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1950-52, and named in 1954 after the French polar ship Pourquoi Pas ? IV. ...
, in 136°11' E. The region extends as a sector

Circular sector

A circular sector or circle sector, is the portion of a circle enclosed by two radius and an Arc , where the smaller area is known as the minor sector and the larger being the major sector....
about 2600 km

Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
towards the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's rotation intersects the surface....
, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km², mostly glaciated. It is further subdivided in the following coastal areas which can also be thought of as sectors extending to the South Pole:

Knox Land: 100°31' E to 109°16' E
Budd Land: 109°16' E to 115°33' E
Sabrina Land: 115°33' E to 122°05' E
Banzare Land: 122°05' E to 130°10' E
Clarie Land: (Wilkes Coast) 130°10' E to 136°11' E

In a wider sense, Wilkes Land extends further East to Point Alden

Point Alden

Point Alden in Antarctica is an ice-covered point with rock exposures along the seaward side. The point marks the western side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay and the division between Ad?lie Land and George V Coast in Antarctica....
in 142°02' E, thereby including Adelie Land

Adélie Land

Name

Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an United States naval officer and List of explorers. He is particularly noted for leading the 1838–1842 United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 as well as for his role in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War....
(later a Rear Admiral), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the continental margin

Continental margin

The continental margin is the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area....
over a distance of 2,400 km

Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
(1,500 mile

Mile

A mile is a Units of measurement of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems. In contemporary English contexts, mile most commonly refers to the statute mile of 5,280 Feet or the nautical mile of 1,852 meters ....
s) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that Antarctica

Antarctica

Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
. This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E, George V Land, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.

Geology

In 2006 a team of researchers led by Ralph von Frese

Ralph von Frese

Ralph R. B. von Frese is an United States geophysicist at the Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land crater with Laramie Potts.In 1969, von Frese obtained a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Park College in physics, mathematics and German language....
and Laramie Potts

Laramie Potts

Laramie Potts is an United States scientist at the Ohio State University who identified the Wilkes Land crater with Ralph von Frese. He is from South Africa....
used gravity measurements by NASA's GRACE

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

The goal of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment space mission is to obtain accurate global and high-resolution determination of both the static and the time-variable components of the Earth's gravity field....
satellites to discover the 300-mile-wide Wilkes Land crater

Wilkes Land crater

Wilkes Land crater is an informal term that may apply to two separate cases of conjectured giant impact craters hidden beneath the ice cap of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica....
, which probably formed about 250 million years ago.

Wilkes Land in Popular Culture

Wilkes Land is featured prominently in the 1998 film The X-Files. Fox Mulder journeys to Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
to save his partner Dana Scully
Dana Scully

Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, Doctor of Medicine is a fictional character on the FOX television series The X-Files and in two theatrical films based on the series, played by Gillian Anderson, while younger versions were played by Tegan Moss, Joey Shea, and Zoe Anderson ....
, who is being held there against her will. In the process discovering a huge secret lab under the surface run by the Cigarette-Smoking Man.