A literature review and site description has been prepared covering this area to provide information to those people interested in studying this site, but have little background knowledge of it.

A reconnaissance trip of the Brown Hills area (just north of the Darwin Glacier) was undertaken in November 2004. Photos from this trip can be found in the Darwin Glacier area photo library. Some descriptions below are provided to accompany the photos. Maps and airphotos can also be used for orientation.

A site description from a field event visit in December 2004 can be found here.

A summary of the met data downloaded from the Darwin AWS in December 2005 and a description of the surrounding area can be found here.

The Brown Hills area can be split into 5 parts to help better describe the area:

1. Lake Wilson: includes the lake and surrounding areas, plus ponds in the lateral morain to the north of Lake Wilson. Some periglacial features could be seen in the terrain to the north of the lake (polygons and pingo-like structures). This area is covered by large boulders and would make camping difficult. There are some flat terraces at the western end of the lake. Lake surface is quite rough. Communications with Twin Otter pilots who have flown in the area identified 2 areas on the lake where they could potentially land (eastern end and SW corner).

2. Diamond Hill: red, rubbly slopes that should pose little problem to scrambling around them.

3. Central Valley: valley connecting Lake Wilson and Diamond Glacier with the slopes of Diamond Hill to the south. This valley is pocketed with depressions along its length, which have accumulations of snow and some small ponds in them. Some vegetation and salt accumulation was noted on the rocks. Very variable surface terrain, but mostly easy walking. Periglacial features noted (polygons/channels). There is a large flat plain at the foot of the Diamond Glacier composed of smaller surface material but dotted with larger boulders.

4. Diamond Glacier: includes the land to the north of the glacier and the ice marginal lakes. The glacier itself had little snow on the surface and no noticeable crevasses. Lakes have decent flat land around them for camping. Mostly, the sides of the glacier are gentle.

5. Erewhon Basin and Foggydog Glacier: Very bouldery terrain in the Erewhon Basin with only a few potential campsites. Some boulders upto 4m high. Very angular and blocky rocks with much evidence of frost shattering. Generally hard terrain to walk across, but not impossible. Ice availability for water from the edge of the Diamond Glacier. Two lakes associated with glacier margins of the Diamond and Foggydog Glaciers. These are covered in transparent/opaque ice with smooth, wind sculpted surfaces. Liquid water evident under the ice from the observation of bubbles. Past camps here in Dec show the lakes almost totally melted and available for drinking water. Algal mats evident through the lake ice and dried up around lake edges. Mats vary in size depending on the lake. Lakes closer to Foggydog have large algae (2-4 cm wide, reddy/purple colour). Lake near Diamond Glacier had smaller (~1cm), bitty, light brown algae. Much dried algae around the lake margins. Some algae protruding from lake ice. Evidence of melting and re-freezing of lake ice around boulders protruding from the lake surface. Definite change in terrain between the lakes, possibly marking lake ‘watersheds’? Also observed a few small areas between the boulders (1-2m across) which were flat and composed of finer grained material than the surrounding area.