Beacon Valley

Beacon Valley is an ice-free valley in Victoria Land, Antarctica, lying between Pyramid Mountain and Beacon Heights within the Quartermain Mountains at about 77 degrees 49 minutes south, 160 degrees 39 minutes east. It was mapped by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910 to 1913 and later named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition of 1958 to 1959 after nearby Beacon Heights. Its dry, cold, slightly alkaline and salt-rich soil, with thin films of brine around permafrost structures, makes its central region one of the best terrestrial analogues for present-day conditions on Mars, and a seasonal field camp established in 2004 supports research there into its Mars-like environment and extreme Antarctic ecosystem. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/