Onyx River

river, Antarctica

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July 1, 2026

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The Onyx River is a rare, short-lived stream of glacial meltwater in Antarctica. It flows from the Lower Wright Glacier terminus and empties into Lake Vanda, a nondrained basin near McMurdo Sound. Victoria Land, where the Onyx River is located, is a mountainous region discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross and named for Queen Victoria. This area is characterized by snow-covered mountains and outlet glaciers that drain the East Antarctic ice sheet. Research stations operated by the United States and New Zealand are located in Victoria Land.12

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Antarctica
Relief
The evanescent Onyx River, for example, flows from Lower Wright Glacier terminus to empty into the nondrained basin of Lake Vanda near McMurdo Sound. Glacially sculptured landforms now predominate, as they must have some 300 million years ago, in an earlier period of continental glaciation of all…
Read More
The evanescent Onyx River, for example, flows from Lower Wright Glacier terminus to empty into the nondrained basin of Lake Vanda near McMurdo Sound. Glacially sculptured landforms now predominate, as they must have some 300 million years ago, in an earlier period of continental glaciation of all…
Read More