Group of mountain ranges in the Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica
The Pensacola Mountains (
82°37′S 52°49′W / 82.617°S 52.817°W / -82.617; -52.817 (Pensacola Mountains ) ) are a large group of mountain ranges and peaks that extend 280 nautical miles (520 km; 320 mi) in a northeast–southwest direction in the
Transantarctic Mountains System,
Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica.
They comprise the
Argentina Range ,
Forrestal Range ,
Dufek Massif ,
Cordiner Peaks ,
Neptune Range ,
Patuxent Range ,
Rambo Nunataks and
Pecora Escarpment .
These mountain units lie astride the extensive
Foundation Ice Stream and
Support Force Glacier which drain northward to the
Ronne Ice Shelf .
Discovery and naming
The Pensacola Mountains were discovered and photographed on 13 January 1956 in the course of a transcontinental nonstop plane flight by personnel of
United States Navy
Operation Deep Freeze I from
McMurdo Sound to
Weddell Sea and return.
They were named by the United States
Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for the U.S. Naval Air Station,
Pensacola, Florida , in commemoration of the historic role of that establishment in training aviators of the United States Navy.
The mountains were mapped in detail by
United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy air photos in 1956–67.
Geology
The Pensacola Mountains were originally continuous with the
Ventana Mountains near
Bahía Blanca in
Argentina ,
Cape Fold Belt in
South Africa , the
Ellsworth Mountains (West Antarctica) and the
Hunter-Bowen orogeny in eastern
Australia .
The
Ordovician -
Devonian Neptune Group rests
unconformably on a Cambrian succession, and is overlain disconformably by the Dover
Sandstone of the
Beacon Supergroup . Within the Neptune Group is the Brown Ridge
Conglomerate , Elliott Sandstone, Elbow
Formation , and the Heiser Sandstone.
Western features
The
Foundation Ice Stream flows through the western part of the range.
Pecora Escarpment, South tip of Patuxent Range
Patuxent Range. Rambo Nunataks to north
North part of Neptune range
Pecora Escarpment (
85°38′S 68°42′W / 85.633°S 68.700°W / -85.633; -68.700 (Pecora Escarpment ) ), an irregular escarpment, 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) long, standing 35 nautical miles (65 km; 40 mi) southwest of
Patuxent Range and marking the southernmost exposed rocks of the Pensacola Mountains.
Patuxent Range (
84°43′S 64°30′W / 84.717°S 64.500°W / -84.717; -64.500 (Patuxent Range ) ), a major range of the Pensacola Mountains. It comprises the
Thomas Hills ,
Anderson Hills ,
Mackin Table and various
nunataks and ridges bounded by the
Foundation Ice Stream ,
Academy Glacier and the
Patuxent Ice Stream .
Rambo Nunataks (
83°57′S 66°20′W / 83.950°S 66.333°W / -83.950; -66.333 (Rambo Nunataks ) ), a loose chain of
nunataks which lie northwest of
Patuxent Range and extend along the west side of the
Foundation Ice Stream for 17 nautical miles (31 km; 20 mi).
Neptune Range (
83°30′S 056°00′W / 83.500°S 56.000°W / -83.500; -56.000 (Neptune Range ) ), a mountain range, 70 nautical miles (130 km; 81 mi) long, lying west-southwest of
Forrestal Range in the central part of the Pensacola Mountains. The range comprises Washington Escarpment with its associated ridges, valleys and peaks, the
Iroquois Plateau , the
Schmidt Hills and
Williams Hills .
Northern features
The northern part of the range is to the south of the
Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf .
Cordiner Peaks, West part of Dufek Massif
East part of Dufek Massif. North part of Forrestal Range
South part of Forrestal Range
Argentina Range
Cordiner Peaks (
82°48′S 53°30′W / 82.800°S 53.500°W / -82.800; -53.500 (Cordiner Peaks ) ), a group of peaks extending over an area of 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) standing 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) southwest of
Dufek Massif in the northern part of the Pensacola Mountains.
Dufek Massif (
82°36′S 52°30′W / 82.600°S 52.500°W / -82.600; -52.500 (Dufek Massif ) ), a rugged, largely snow-covered
massif 27 nautical miles (50 km; 31 mi) long, standing west of the
Forrestal Range in the northern part of the Pensacola Mountains.
Forrestal Range (
83°00′S 049°30′W / 83.000°S 49.500°W / -83.000; -49.500 (Forrestal Range ) ), a largely snow-covered
mountain range , about 65 nautical miles (120 km; 75 mi) long, standing east of
Dufek Massif and the
Neptune Range in the Pensacola Mountains.
Argentina Range (
82°20′S 042°00′W / 82.333°S 42.000°W / -82.333; -42.000 (Argentina Range ) ), a range of rock peaks and bluffs, 42 nautical miles (78 km; 48 mi) long, lying 35 nautical miles (65 km; 40 mi) east of the northern part of
Forrestal Range in the northeastern portion of the Pensacola Mountains.
References
Sources
Alberts, Fred G., ed. (1995),
Geographic Names of the Antarctic (PDF) (2 ed.), United States Board on Geographic Names, retrieved 2023-12-03 This article incorporates
public domain material from websites or documents of the
United States Board on Geographic Names .
Laird, M.G. (1991), Thomson, M.R.A.; Crame, J.A.; Thomson, J.W. (eds.), Lower-mid-Palaeozoic sedimentation and tectonic patterns on the palaeo-Pacific margin of Antarctica, in Geological Evolution of Antarctica , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 179,
ISBN
9780521372664
Further reading
Gunter Faure, Teresa M. Mensing,
The Transantarctic Mountains: Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water , P 233
M.J.Bentley, A.S.Hein, D.E.Sugden, P.L.Whitehouse, R.Shanks, S.Xu, S.P.H.T.Freeman,
Deglacial history of the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica from glacial geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating , Quaternary Science Reviews Volume 158, 15 February 2017, Pages 58–76,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.09.028
JOHN C. BEHRENDT, JOHN R. HENDERSON, LAURENT ElSTER, and WILLIAM L. RAMBO,
Geophysical Investigations of the Pensacola Mountains and Adjacent Glacierized Areas of Antarctica , GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 844
Curtis, M. (2002),
Palaeozoic to Mesozoic polyphase deformation of the Patuxent Range, Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica , Antarctic Science, 14(2), 175–183.
https://doi:10 [
permanent dead link ] .1017/S0954102002000743
Myrl E. Beck, Palaeomagnetism and Magnetic Polarity Zones in the Jurassic Dufek Intrusion, Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica , Geophysical Journal International, Volume 28, Issue 1, May 1972, Pages 49–63,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1972.tb06110.x
Hodgson, Dominic A Bentley, Michael J,
Lake highstands in the Pensacola Mountains and Shackleton Range 4300–2250 cal. yr BP: Evidence of a warm climate anomaly in the interior of Antarctica ,
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612460790
Karolien Peeters (UGent), Dominic A Hodgson, Peter Convey and Anne Willems (UGent),
Culturable diversity of heterotrophic bacteria in Forlidas Pond (Pensacola Mountains) and Lundström Lake (Shackleton Range), Antarctica , (2011) MICROBIAL ECOLOGY. 62(2). p. 399-413