Mount Usborne () is a mountain on East Falkland. At above sea level, it is the highest point in the Falkland Islands. It is taller than Mount Adam, the highest peak on West Falkland. The mountain lies some west of Stanley, and was used as a radar orientation point during the first successful Black Buck raid on the airfield at Stanley.

The mountain is referenced by Charles Darwin in Chapter 9 of Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. It is named after , master's assistant on , the ship that took Darwin on his voyage.

As one of the highest mountains of the Falklands, it is thought that the peak experienced some glaciation. The remains of glacial cirques can be seen on the mountain, and on its north-eastern slope lies Black Tarn. The tarn was subject to depth testing in 1981 and 2014, with soundings suggesting a depth of in 1981, however the team from 2014 only found a depth down to . Core samples were also taken from the edge of the tarn during the 2014 study, and these revealed charcoals from fire events that could suggest pre-European human activity in the area.

The San Carlos River rises on the northern flank of the mountain and flows north then westwards towards San Carlos. Stone runs are present on the slopes of Mount Usborne, but like elsewhere in the Falklands above , the runs are composed of finer, closer-spaced, jumbled and uneven rocks than those of the stone runs at lower elevations. The handful of Falklands mountains over have

References

Sources

• Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, )

External links

• A Stroll up Mount Usborne