Victoria Valley
valley in Antarctica
Victoria Valley (77°23′S 161°56′E) is an extensive ice-free valley, formerly occupied by a large glacier, extending from Victoria Upper Glacier to Victoria Lower Glacier in Victoria Land, Antarctica.
It is one of the larger McMurdo Dry Valleys.
Name
Victoria Valley was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE: 1958-59) after their alma mater Victoria University of Wellington, which sponsored the expedition.
Location
The Victoria Valley is one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys.
The head of the Victoria Valley, which contains the Victoria Upper Glacier, is south of the Clare Range.
The valley descends south-southeast between Saint Johns Range to the east and the Cruzen Range to the west.
It is joined from the west by the Barwick Valley, and then south of Mount Insel by the McKelvey Valley, below which Lake Vida lies across the valley.
The valley continues in an east-northeast direction.
The Packard Glacier descends part way into it from the north and the Clark Glacier extends part way into it from the south.
At the foot of the valley Victoria Lower Glacier flows into the Wilson Piedmont Glacier, which extends along the west coast of the Ross Sea.
The public source identifies “Victoria Valley” as valley in Antarctica. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Victoria, Valley and valley.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Victoria Valley”, the useful work is to connect “valley in Antarctica” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
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 Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7927124. The first chronological checks are 1958.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Victoria Valley”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Victoria Valley primary sources, Victoria Valley archive and Victoria research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Victoria Valley”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Victoria Valley” 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.