Salvesen Range facts for kids
The Salvesen Mountains are a mountain range found on the southern tip of South Georgia. These impressive mountains reach a height of about 2,330 meters (7,644 feet).
How the Mountains Were Made
The Salvesen Mountains were formed a very long time ago, about 127 million years back. They are mostly made of a type of rock called granite. This granite was created when hot, melted rock (magma) cooled down deep inside the Earth.
The granite is surrounded by older rocks. These include black basalt lavas and dolerite dykes. Basalt is a dark volcanic rock, and dykes are like walls of rock that cut through other rock layers. Both the basalt and dolerite are black. This creates a cool contrast with the lighter granite, making the mountains look very striking.
Both the granite and the basalt formed from magma. This magma rose up from deep within the Earth where the southern Atlantic Ocean was beginning to open up. This process is called a divergent plate boundary.
Other main mountain ranges on South Georgia are different. They are made from folded sandstone and are not as rugged. Sandstone forms from layers of sand that get pressed together over time. This sand came from older rocks that wore away and from pieces of continents breaking apart.
Naming the Mountains
The Salvesen Mountains were explored and mapped by the South Georgia Survey team between 1951 and 1952. They were named after Sir Harold Salvesen. He was a director of a company called Messrs. Chr. Salvesen and Co. in Leith. Sir Harold Salvesen provided a lot of help to the survey teams during their expeditions in the 1950s.
Mountains in the Range
Some of the mountains found in the Salvesen Range include:
- Mount Carse
- Mount Paterson
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Salvesen Range" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).
