For a similarly named island near Antarctica, see Ross Island. James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to 1,630 m, it is irregularly shaped and extends 40 miles in a north-south direction. It was charted in October 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Otto Nordenskiöld. He named it for Sir James Clark Ross, leader of a British expedition to this area in 1842, who discovered and roughly charted a number of points along the eastern side of the island. The form James Ross Island is used to avoid confusion with the more widely known Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.
James Ross Island from NASA's DC-8 aircraft during an AirSAR 2004 mission over the Antarctic Peninsula
It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of that continent.[1]
The first Czech Antarctic Base is located on the island.
Frozen bones
The first dinosaur ever discovered in Antarctica was Antarctopelta oliveroi, a medium-sized ankylosaur found on James Ross Island by Argentinian geologists Eduardo Olivero and Roberto Scasso in 1986. The dinosaur was recovered from the Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous Santa Marta Formation, about 2 km (1.2 mi) south of Santa Marta Cove on the north part of the island. The ankylosaur was not formally named until 2006.[2]
In December 2003, U.S. paleontologist Judd Case from Saint Mary's College of California and U.S. geologist James Martin from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology discovered the bones of a theropod dinosaur on the island. Nicknamed "Naze" after the northerly Naze Peninsula on which it was found, the Late Cretaceous remains include an upper jaw and teeth, and most of the lower legs and feet. Little information is available, but the shape of the leg and feet indicate it was a runner, and the size indicates it was probably 1.8 m (6 ft) tall and weighed 135 kg (300 lb). This is the second Antarctic theropod discovered, after Cryolophosaurus.[3]
References
Coordinates: 64°10′S 57°45′W / -64.167, -57.75 This article incorporates text from James Ross Island, in the Geographic Names Information System, operated by the United States Geological Survey, and therefore a public domain work of the United States Government.
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