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Shackleton Glacier

glacier in Antarctica

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ2944385 ↗
Source-derived summary

Shackleton Glacier (84°35′S 176°20′W) is a major Antarctic glacier, over 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) long and from 5 to 10 nautical miles (9.3 to 18.5 km; 5.8 to 11.5 mi) wide, descending from the Antarctic Plateau from the vicinity of Roberts Massif and flowing north through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter the Ross Ice Shelf between Mount Speed and Waldron Spurs.

Discovered by the United States Antarctic Service (USAS) (1939–41) and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Sir Ernest Shackleton, British Antarctic explorer.

Course

The Shackleton Glacier originates in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and flows northeast between Dismal Buttress to the northwest and Roberts Massif to the southeast.

It is joined from the right (east) by Zaneveld Glacier, which also originates in the ice sheet.

Further north it is joined from the right by the Logie Glacier, which flows west through the Cumulus Hills.

Flowing north, the Shackleton Glacier is joined from the left (west) by the Gallup Glacier and the Baldwin Glacier and from the right (east) by McGregor Glacier just past Eckins Nunatak.

The Swithinbank Moraine extends north from Matador Mountain along the west side of the Shackleton Glacier to the Gemini Nunataks.

It crosses the mouths of the Gallup, Baldwin, Mincey and Field glaciers, left tributaries of the Shackleton Glacier.

Past Lockhart Ridge the Shackleton Glacier is joined from the right by the Yeats Glacier.

The glacier flows north through the Queen Maud Mountains, with the Anderson Heights to its west and the Cathedral Peaks to its east.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Shackleton Glacier” is glacier in Antarctica. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Shackleton, Glacier and glacier, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1939—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Shackleton, Glacier and glacier is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “glacier in Antarctica” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2944385. VIAF identifies the subject as 315126421. The Library of Congress control number is sh87003495. Authority coordinates are -84.583, -176.333. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Shackleton Glacier”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Shackleton Glacier primary sources, Shackleton Glacier archive and Shackleton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shackleton Glacier”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Shackleton Glacier” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.