Mount Achernar Explained

Mount Achernar is a peak forming the northeast end of the MacAlpine Hills, on the south side of Law Glacier. Named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) (1961–62) after the star Achernar used in fixing the survey baseline.Antacrtica^{[1] [2]}

Late Permian buried forest

Mount Achernar consists of the deeply eroded and glacially sculptured beds of sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal of the Buckley Formation of the Beacon Supergroup. Exposed by the slopes of this mountain is a well known and studied late Permian buried forest consisting of numerous in situ fossil tree stumps. These silicified stumps are up to 18cm (07inches) and 20cm (10inches) height and in growth position. The tree rings on these stumps are well-preserved and exhibit narrow zones of latewood that represent a young, rapidly growing forest at latitudes of about 80° to 85 °S. These trees are interpreted to represent a forest growing at the time that the climate was warm because of the wide growth rings, lack of frost rings, and the deciduous nature of Glossopteris.^{[3] [4] [5]}

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Gordon Valley buried forest

Notes and References

1. antarid . 48. Mount Achernar . 2023-08-06.
2. Stewart, J., 2011. Antarctica: An Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Jefferson, North Carolina and London, McFarland & Company, Inc. 1771 pp.
3. Cúneo, N.R., Isbell, J., Taylor, E.L. and Taylor, T.N., 1993. The Glossopteris flora from Antarctica: taphonomy and paleoecology. Comptes Rendus XII ICC-P, 2, pp.13-40.
4. Taylor, E.L., Taylor, T.N. and Cúneo, N.R., 1992. The present is not the key to the past: a polar forest from the Permian of Antarctica. Science, 257(5077), pp.1675-1677.
5. Ryberg, P.E., Taylor, E.L. and Taylor, T.N., 2012. Antarctic glossopterid diversity on a local scale: the presence of multiple megasporophyll genera, Upper Permian, Mt. Achernar, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. American Journal of Botany, 99(9), pp.1531-1540.