Mount Usborne

Mount Usborne (Spanish: Cerro Alberdi) is a mountain on East Falkland. At 705m above sea level, it is the highest point in the Falkland Islands.

Mount Usborne
Highest point
Elevation705 m (2,313 ft)[1]
Prominence705 m (2,313 ft)[1]
Listing
Coordinates51°41′50″S 58°50′04″W
Geography
LocationEast Falkland, Falkland Islands, south Atlantic Ocean
Parent rangeWickham Heights

The mountain is referenced by Charles Darwin in Chapter 9 of Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. It is named after Alexander Burns Usborne[2], Master's Assistant on HMS Beagle, the ship that took Darwin on his famous voyage.

The remains of glacial cirques can also be seen on Mount Usborne. It is only a few metres taller than Mount Adam, the highest peak on West Falkland.

As one of the highest mountains of the Falklands, it experienced some glaciation. The handful of mountains over 600m have:

"pronounced corries with small glacial lakes at their bases, morainic ridges deposited below the corries suggest that the glaciers and ice domes were confined to areas of maximum elevation with other parts of the islands experiencing a periglacial climate" [3]

References

  • Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, ISBN 0-471-98665-8)
  1. "Mount Usborne, Falkland Islands". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
  2. Alexander Burns Usborne
  3. Strange, Ian (1983) The Falkland Islands
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