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with ablation, may ultimately reveal fresh exposures of
ice dotted with meteorites covering this entire area.
The Battlements Nunatak Icefield lies about 10 km
north of the Main Icefield. It is composed of two small
ice patches a short distance west of the Nunatak and one
long, narrow ice patch that extends northeastward for 12
km. The terrain south of the Nunatak is so badly crevassed
that no visit to it had been made until this season, when
team members Schutt and Fudali found a way through
Battlements Nunatak and discovered the ice sheet beyond
it to be strewn with terrestrial rocks with no readily visible
meteorites mixed in with them. It resembled the patches
they had seen in North Victoria Land. Although they
found no sign of a meteorite concentration, they recom-
mended that it should be visited again and studied with
more care.
During this season, the flagging and mapping of mete-
orite finds was applied for the first time to create location
maps that have since proven to be invaluable in solving
pairing problems. In addition, oriented blocks of ice were
collected for petrographic studies by Ian Whillans at Ohio
State University. Ian spent the last 10 days of the season
at the camp.
Schutt, Fudali, Crozaz, and I spent two and a half days
sweeping the Near Western Icefield, where we collected 78
specimens (Figure  1.11). When paired, these represented
at most 24 meteorites. Fifty-two of the specimens were
weathered and appeared to come from one individual.
These strongly resembled 30 fragments collected at the
same site in previous years. Schutt and Fudali spent
one day searching the Middle Western Icefield, where they
collected 14 specimens, 11 of which were paired. They
found and flagged several more.
On 5 January, Bill Cassidy arrived back at McMurdo
after enjoying Christmas at home. He came to the Allan
Hills camp on 7 January, when we had about two more
weeks to go. The first of these weeks was a very busy one
spent collecting, flagging, and searching new areas. 14
January was an exceptionally fine day when we were
looking forward to the arrival on the next day of Ian
Whillans, hoping he would tell us all about the ice regime
governing our icefields. At the end of the day when we
arrived back at camp, I got off my snowmobile and
started to toss its cover over it. The wind caught the cover
and I lunged for it, not knowing that my left foot was
wedged into the strut of the ski on my snowmobile. As I
was twisted and thrown to the ground, I heard a crack
and immediately was in pain. That ended my second
sojourn at the Allan Hills. The following day, the helo
that brought Ian Whillans to camp carried me to the
infirmary at McMurdo, where x-rays showed that I had a
spiral fracture of my left leg bone (fibula). Such a fracture
is not serious, and the pain had ended long since, so with
a proper walking cast and a cane for balance, I was told I
could walk around McMurdo. I was walking around
home via Los Angeles within 12 days.
1.14.6. “ANSMET Finds a Lunar Sample”
This is the heading that Bill Cassidy uses in his topic
[2003, p. 147] to introduce this topic. Bill led Ian Whillans
through the Main Icefield, where they did some coring
Figure 1.11. Schutt takes notes while Marvin examines a small meteorite on the Near Western Icefield. Crozaz snapped
the picture.
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