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Exploration & earth science research
Prince Charles Mountains
| The Prince Charles Mountains (PCMs) were first sighted and photographed in 1947 during aerial operations carried out by the United States navy as part of 'Operation Highjump'. They were subsequently sighted and named by ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) expeditioners during an overland traverse in the winter of 1954, the same year in which Australia's first mainland Antarctic base (Mawson) was commissioned ~400 km to the northwest.
Early exploration and geological reconnaissance surveys were undertaken in both the northern and southern Prince Charles Mountains by wintering field parties from Mawson between 1954 and 1961, using fixed wing aircraft, motorized vehicles and/or dog sleds for transportation.
Camp, Southern Prince Charles Mountains
| With the establishment of advance base camps at Moore Pyramid (northern Prince Charles Mountains) and Mount Creswell (southern Prince Charles Mountains), geological work in this region was intensified in the austral summers of 1968 to 1974 and the use of helicopter transportation was also introduced. From 1965 onwards, members of the SAE (Soviet Antarctic Expeditions) also began undertaking geological fieldwork in the Prince Charles Mountains, eventually establishing a base, Soyuz, on the eastern shore of Beaver Lake in the northern Prince Charles Mountains.
Australian geological work in the Prince Charles Mountains entered its third phase in the summer of 1987/88 when the SAE transported ANARE expeditioners from the Larsemann Hills to the Amery Oasis area of the northern Prince Charles Mountains and a field camp was set up at Radok Lake.
Crohn Massif, helicopter and crew in northern area of the Prince Charles Mountains.
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The following summer an advance base camp (Dovers) was established by the Australians near Farley Massif in the Athos Range, making the northern Prince Charles Mountains the centre of focus for geological research in this region. Since the late 1980s, Australian summer field parties, based either at Dovers or a second base camp at Beaver Lake, established in the summer of 1994/95, have been deployed in the northern Prince Charles Mountains on an almost annual basis.
The summer of 1997/98 saw a shift in the focus of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) operations in the Prince Charles Mountains when the southern Prince Charles Mountains was visited for the first time in more than 20 years. The program reassessed the geology of the most inland and extensive exposure of basement metamorphic rocks of the East Antarctic Shield using modern research and analytical tools. In addition, the Cenozoic glacial deposits located in this region, and the glacial erosion surfaces which characterize many of the southern Prince Charles Mountains massifs, provided vital information regarding the movement of the Lambert Glacier and its tributaries.
Area of field operations in 2003-04 
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