Mighty Bad Land

A Perilous Expedition to Antarctica Reveals Clues to an Eighth Continent

Bruce Luyendyk

• Publisher: Permuted Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9781637588444
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Geologia e scienze della terra

A tale of grit and real teamwork in the wilds of Antarctica when the hunger for knowledge reigns supreme. Anything can happen in a pure wilderness experienced by few humans—a place where unseen menace waits everywhere. This story is an unembellished account of a scientist and his team exploring the last place on Earth. But, unlike most recent books on Antarctica, the reader becomes embedded with geologist Bruce Luyendyk's team. They share the challenges, companionship, failures, bravery, and success brought to light from scientific research pursued in an unforgiving place, Marie Byrd Land, or Mighty Bad Land.The geologists make surprising discoveries. Luyendyk realizes that vast submarine plateaus in the southwest Pacific are continental pieces that broke away from the Marie Byrd Land sector of Gondwana. He coined "Zealandia" to describe this newly recognized submerged continent. Only the tops of its mountains poke above sea level to host the nation of New Zealand. This stunning revelation of a submerged eighth continent promises economic and geopolitical consequences reverberating into the twenty-first century.The story occurs in the 1990s and fills a gap in the timeline of Antarctic exploration between the Heroic Age, the age of military exploration, and before the modern era of science. Danger is exponentially greater, isolation a constant threat without GPS, satellite phones, and the internet. As the expedition's leader, Luyendyk stands up to his demons that surface under the extreme duress of his experience, like nearly losing two team members.

Table of contents

• Mighty Bad Land
• Copyright
• Contents
• Maps
• Foreword by Edward J. Larson
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Point of No Return
• Chapter 2: NPQ
• Chapter 3: McMurdo Station
• Chapter 4: The Lions of Antarctica
• Chapter 5: Radio Room
• Chapter 6: Cape Evans
• Chapter 7: Shackleton’s Room
• Chapter 8: Debrief
• Chapter 9: Survival School
• Chapter 10: Recce
• Chapter 11: Put-In
• Chapter 12: Depot Camp
• Chapter 13: South to the Chester Mountains
• Chapter 14: Neptune Nunataks
• Chapter 15: Marian, Ruth, Judy, and Punch
• Chapter 16: Pursuit of Happiness
• Chapter 17: Perfume on Ice
• Chapter 18: Northwest to Birchall Peaks
• Chapter 19: Swarm Peak
• Chapter 20: You’ve Got Mail
• Chapter 21: Shadows in the Storm
• Chapter 22: Down the Ochs Glacier
• Chapter 23: Avers Camp
• Chapter 24: Bird Bluff
• Chapter 25: Black Flags
• Chapter 26: Up the Ochs Glacier
• Chapter 27: Pull-Out
• Chapter 28: Out-Brief
• Chapter 29: The World
• Chapter 30: Finding Zealandia
• Photos
• Epilogue
• Appendix
• Scientific Findings
• Acknowledgments