Hestesletten

Hestesletten is a flat, marshy, glacial moraine plain lying between Moraine Fjord (on Cumberland East Bay) and the Hamberg Lakes near the north coast of South Georgia. It is covered with tussock and is almost two miles long in a northeast–southwest direction and three-quarters of a mile wide.

This one of the few substantial flat areas on the island; another being Salisbury Plain. Junction Valley slopes eastward from Echo Pass to Hestesletten, connecting the two.

Zenker Ridge, a low moraine ridge, extends along the east side of Hestesletten. It runs south-west from Discovery Point at the entrance of Moraine Fjord to Osmic Hill, which rises 1,000 feet from the surrounding plan, marking the north limit of an undulating ridge of hills on the west side of Moraine Fjord.

This area was first charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Nordenskjöld.

Name

The name of the plain is Norwegian and means 'Horse Plain': it was named from the small herd of horses, introduced by the South Georgia Exploration Company in 1905 and surviving here for a number of years.

History

During the Falklands War, on 25 April 1982, Royal Marines landed here, and proceeded to King Edward Point, where Argentine forces surrendered to them later that day.

Location

• Location map: 54°18’41"S, 36°30’14"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands: Hestesletten