"Ablation Valley and Lake"Ablation Valley is one of the largest ice-free areas in this part of Antarctica. Termed an "oasis", areas like this are characterized by very little snowfall, so the glaciers that do develop are of the small valley glacier type. The valley contains three un-named glaciers, an epi-shelf lake that is connected to the ocean and is therefore tidal, and a complex glacial and periglacial record. It is known from erratics that the area was once over-ridden by ice from the Antarctic Peninsula (Palmer Land), but the timing of events has yet to be resolved. | |||
 Aerial view of Ablation Valley and Ablation Point (foreground) area, showing epi-shelf lake (frozen), floating fractured tongue of an extension to George VI Ice Shelf, small valley glaciers and highland icefield beyond, and ice-shelf moraine in foreground. |  The western (inner) part of Ablation Lake. Long snow gullies follow faults cutting through the sequence of volcanic and sedimentary strata of Jurassic-Cretaceous age. |  The movement of George VI Ice Shelf against frozen Ablation Lake creates pressure ridges like this up the 3 or 4 metres high. Ablation Point is in the background. |  Icicles in a pressure ridge frame mountains at the head of Ablation Valley. |
 Evening sun casts long shadows from a pressure ridge on Ablation Lake. |  The head of Ablation valley with bifurcating glacier in the background and a “moat” at the edge of the lake. |  Turquoise waters fill the moat at the edge of Ablation Lake. |  The land surrounding Ablation Lake is subject to freeze-thaw processes in summertime. Here stone stripes have developed on a surface of glacial sediment. In the warmth of the afternoon in mid-summer, the upper layer of sediment thaws out. |
 A gneiss boulder erratic, which was transported across George VI Sound from Palmer Land by an expanded Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet, now rests on a thick layer of glacial sediment. |  A granite boulder erratic also transported from Palmer Land. |  A former ice-shelf moraine with a scatter of gneiss and granite boulders in the vicinity of Erratic Valley. Small valley glacier in the background. |  Gneiss boulder from Palmer Land partially split by frost action. |
 Granite boulder from Palmer Land with a xenolith of country rock. | |||
| Photos Michael Hambrey, November and December 2012. | |||