Pensacola Mountains
The Pensacola Mountains are a large group of mountain ranges in Queen Elizabeth Land, in the British Antarctic Territory, and forming part of the Transantarctic Mountains System. It is divided into several sub-ranges.
The highest point of the mountains is reported as either the Mackin Table at 7,005 feet or England Peak, reported variously as 6,234 feet or 7,054 feet.
The mountains extend from 82°00' S to 85°45' S between 41°00' W and 85°45' W
Geography
- Location map: 83°45’0"S, 55°0’0"W
The Pensacola Mountains extend 280 miles in a north-east to south-west direction. Sub-ranges of the Pensacola Mountains include:
- The Argentina Range;
- The Forrestal Range;
- The Dufek Massif;
- The Cordiner Peaks;
- The Neptune Range;
- The Patuxent Range;
- The Rambo Nunataks and
- The Pecora Escarpment.
These mountain units lie astride the extensive Foundation Ice Stream and Support Force Glacier which drain northward to the Ronne Ice Shelf.
Survey and naming
The range was discovered as a distinct range and photographed on 13 January 1956 in the course of a transcontinental non-stop flight by a P2V-2N Neptune aircraft under Lieutenant Commander J.H. Torbert, the United States Navy, Mount Torbert, crewed by personnel of US Navy 'Operation Deep Freeze' I from McMurdo Sound to the Weddell Sea and return. It was named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after the U.S. Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida, in commemoration of the historic role of that establishment in training aviators of the U.S. Navy.
The mountains were further photographed from the air by United States Air Force in 1957-58, and photographed from the air in their entirety by the United States Navy, 10 December 1961, and 1963-64. They were surveyed from the ground by the United States Geological Survey in 1961-62 and 1963-64.
Features
Georgraphical features of the range include:
Neptune Range
- Main article: Neptune Range
In the Neptune Range:
Williams Hills
Schmidt Hills
Forrestal Range
Patuxent Range
- Main article: Patuxent Range
In the Patuxent Range:
Argentina Range
- Main article: Argentina Range
In the Argentina Range:
Cordiner Peaks
- Main article: Cordiner Peaks
- The Cordiner Peaks
Rambo Nunataks
- Main article: Rambo Nunataks
- The Rambo Nunataks
Pecora Escarpment
- Main article: Pecora Escarpment
In the Pecora Escarpment:
Dufek Massif
- Main article: Dufek Massif
In the Dufek Massif: