Runcorn Glacier [SEP] continent
Runcorn Glacier
Runcorn Glacier () is a glacier to the west of Hess Mountains in Antarctica. It flows southeast to join Beaumont Glacier near the head of Hilton Inlet, Black Coast, Palmer Land.
The glacier was mapped by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Navy during 1966–69, and surveyed by British Antarctic Survey during 1972–73.
In association with the names of continental drift scientists grouped in this area, the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names named the glacier after Keith Runcorn in
polar wander" (see apparent polar wander), i.e., it was assumed that the north pole location had been shifting through time. An alternative explanation, though, was that the continents had moved (shifted and rotated) relative to the north pole, and each continent, in fact, shows its own "polar wander path". During the late 1950s it was successfully shown on two occasions that these data could show the validity of continental drift: by Keith Runcorn in a paper in 1956, and by Warren Carey