Can You Tell Me About The Transantarctic Mountains?

The Transantarctic Mountains are a mountain range that runs the length of the continent of Antarctica in a north south direction separating the western and eastern parts of the continent; the length of the mountain range is about 3500 km and the width from 100-300 km with most of the peaks of the range buried beneath the ice.

The range rises in the northern part of the continent to the west of Queen Maude Land at Coats Land along the coast of the Weddell Sea and ends at Cape Adare to the south of Victoria Land along the coast of the Ross Sea; the range passes at a distance of about 500 km from the South Pole. The Transantarctic Mountains include the Horlick Mountains, Thiel Mountains, Pensacola Mountains, Shackleton Range and Theron Mountains; the tallest peak is Mount Kirkpatrick rising to a height of 14,856 ft (4,528 km).

There are several theories regarding the formation of the Transantarctic Mountains as the mountain range is unique as compared to other similar type of ranges elsewhere on Earth; fossils discovered in places where the range lies exposed, free from the ice cover give credibility to the theory of the continents of Africa, Australia, South America and Antarctica along with the Indian subcontinent being part of a unified landmass known as Gondwanaland (Continental Drift Theory).