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.[2]

Pensacola Mountains
Highest point
PeakEngland Peak[1]
Elevation2,150 m (7,050 ft)
Coordinates82°37′S 52°49′W / 82.617°S 52.817°W / -82.617; -52.817 (Pensacola Mountains)
Dimensions
Length450 km (280 mi)
Area86,850 km2 (33,530 sq mi)
Geography
Pensacola Mountains is located in Antarctica
Pensacola Mountains
Pensacola Mountains
Location in Antarctica
ContinentAntarctica
RegionQueen Elizabeth Land
Range coordinates84°2′S 61°22′W / 84.033°S 61.367°W / -84.033; -61.367
Parent rangeTransantarctic Mountains

Discovery and naming

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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.[2]

Geology

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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.[3]

Western features

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The Foundation Ice Stream flows through the western part of the range.

Northern features

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The northern part of the range is to the south of the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf.

References

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  1. ^ "Pensacola Mountains". Peakbagger. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b Alberts 1995, p. 567.
  3. ^ Laird 1991.
  4. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 564.
  5. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 560.
  6. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 603.
  7. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 521.
  8. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 153.
  9. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 203.
  10. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 252.
  11. ^ Alberts 1995, p. 26.

Sources

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Further reading

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