[2] The portion north of Pyramid Trough was explored and named in February 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition (BrAE) Western Journey Party led by Thomas Griffith Taylor.

He reported that the stream continues north a considerable distance under moraine and ultimately subglacially beneath Koettlitz Glacier to the Ross Sea.

This led to the name from a passage in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan: "Where Alph the sacred river ran, Through caverns measureless to man, Down to a sunless sea.

One of several lakes in the Alph River system, this one located 1.3 miles east of the snout of Walcott Glacier on Scott Coast.

A lake, one of several in the Alph River system, located 1.1 nautical miles (2.0 km; 1.3 mi) southeast of the snout of Howchin Glacier in Denton Hills.

[10] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.